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'' 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'' 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 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 for his promotion of Pure Land Buddhism. During the Muromachi period, the shrine was patronized by the powerful Uesugi clan 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 shrine was burned down in 1533 during battle between rival factions of the Uesugi clan and was rebuilt by Nagao Tamekage 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 increased to 100 ''koku'' in 1611. Following the Meiji restoration, 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, 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.

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