is a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

located in the Gochi neighborhood of the city of Jōetsu, Niigata Prefecture. It is one of the three shrines claiming the title of ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

'' of former

Echigo Province was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niigata ...

. Kotodamaya.com
"Kota Jinja"
retrieved 2012-10-24. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on May 3.

Enshrined ''kami''

The ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' enshrined at Kota Jinja are: * * * *

History

The origins of Kota Shrine is unknown. Similarly named shrines, such as the Keta Shrine in Noto Province, are distributed in a relatively small area along the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

coastline of the

Hokuriku region The was located in the northwestern part of Honshu, the main island of Japan. It lay along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region, which it is currently a part of. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern ...

and all are believed to have a connection with migrants from the

Izumo Izumo (出雲) may refer to: Locations * Izumo Province, an old province of Japan * Izumo, Shimane, a city located in Shimane Prefecture ** Izumo Airport * Izumo-taisha, one of Japan's most ancient and important Shinto shrines Ships * ''Izumo ...

area in the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

. The first known documentary mention of Kota Shrine is in the '' Nihon Kōki'' chronicle dated 813 AD, when it was recorded that the shrine was granted the rank of Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade (従五位下). Per the '' Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku'', it was promoted to Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade in 861 AD and its name appears in the '' Engishiki'' records compiled in 927 AD as a major shrine of ancient Kubiki County in Echigo. In 1207 AD, the Buddhist prelate

Shinran ''Popular Buddhism in Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture'' by Esben Andreasen, pp. 13, 14, 15, 17. University of Hawaii Press 1998, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) at the turbulent close of ...

sought refuge at this shrine after he was exiled from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

for his promotion of

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most wid ...

. During the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

, the shrine was patronized by the powerful

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

and was named the ''ichinomiya'' of Echigo Province notwithstanding the fact that the Yahiko Shrine had an existing and much older claim to that title."Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 2
retrieved 2012-3-13. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the shrine was burned down in 1533 during battle between rival factions of the Uesugi clan and was rebuilt by

Nagao Tamekage was a retainer of Japanese feudal lord Uesugi Fusayoshi, and a ''daimyō'' in his own right, during Japan's Sengoku period. He is perhaps best known as the biological father of Nagao Kagetora, who would be adopted into the Uesugi clan as Ues ...

only to be destroyed again during the Siege of Otate in 1578. It was granted a fief of 13 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' in 1599 for its upkeep, which the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

increased to 100 ''koku'' in 1611. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, with the establishment of

State Shinto was Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that emphasized the Emperor as ...

in 1872, the shrine was originally designated as a "county shrine", but was later raised in status to that of a prefectural shrine (県社) in 1873. Due to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

, the shrine was relocated about one kilometer inland to its present location in 1879. The shrine burned down in 1902, and a temporary structure was built in 1907, which was only replaced with a new shrine building in 2008. The shrine is located about five minutes by car from

Naoetsu Station is a railway station in the city of Jōetsu, Niigata, Japan, jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the third-sector railway operator Echigo Tokimeki Railway. Lines Naoetsu Station is served by the JR East Shinetsu Main L ...

on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

Shin'etsu Main Line The Shinetsu Main Line ( ja, 信越本線, ) is a railway line, consisting of three geographically separated sections, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It was originally one continuous line connecting and via . S ...

Gallery

File:Kota-jinja (Joetsu) honden.JPG, Honden File:Kota-jinja (Joetsu) shaden.JPG, Shaden File:Kota-jinja (Joetsu) torii.JPG, Torii

References

External links

*
Niigata Prefecture Kanko Navi

Jōetsu tourist information
Shinto shrines in Niigata Prefecture Jōetsu, Niigata Echigo Province Ichinomiya {{Shinto-stub

Enshrined ''kami''

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links