is a Shinto shrine located in the Nagara area of

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is a Tenman-gū dedicated to the worship of Sugawara no Michizane.

History

Saitō Toshifuji Saitō, Saito, Saitou or Saitoh (written: or ) are the 20th and 21st most common Japanese surnames respectively. Less common variants are , , and . Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese sailor *, Japanese women's footballer *, Jap ...

(斎藤利藤) first built Nagara Tenjin Shrine during the Kanshō era (1460–1466) with the purpose of making it the family temple for the Saitō clan. Saitō Toshiyasu (斎藤利安) completed repair work during the Eishō era (1504–1520), but

Ikeda Terumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. His court title was '' Musashi no Kami''. Terumasa was also known by the nickname ''saigoku no shōgun'', or, "The ''Shōgun'' of Western Japan". Terumasa fought in many of the battles of the ...

was responsible for major upgrades in 1588. During the Edo period, the Nagara area was under control of the

Owari Domain The was a feudal domain of Japan in the Edo period. Located in what is now the western part of Aichi Prefecture, it encompassed parts of Owari, Mino, and Shinano provinces. Its headquarters were at Nagoya Castle. At its peak, it was rated at ...

and the shrine was used by the heads of both the Owari and Takasu domains. During the Keichō era (1596–1614), after the shrine's pavilions were rebuilt, the shrine suffered damage and new construction was started. The current ''

honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

'' was completed in 1801 and the '' haiden'' was completed in 1852. In 1959, the shrine was struck by the

Isewan Typhoon Typhoon Vera, also known as the , was an exceptionally intense tropical cyclone that struck Japan in September 1959, becoming the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make landfall on the country as a Category 5 equivalent storm. ...

and many large trees were knocked over, damaging the shrine. Repairs were not completed until 1986.

References

External links

Nagara Tenjin Homepage

Images

File:長良天神神社 (岐阜市)-南参道から神門を望むnagaratenjin001.jpg File:長良天神神社 (岐阜市)-神門から拝殿を望むnagaratenjin002.jpg File:長良天神神社 (岐阜市)-拝殿nagaratenjin004.jpg File:長良天神神社 (岐阜市)-拝殿内部nagaratenjin007.jpg File:長良天神神社 (岐阜市)-拝殿天井nagaratenjin010.jpg File:長良天神神社 (岐阜市)-手水舍nagaratenjin003.jpg File:長良天神神社 (岐阜市)-境内から神門を望むnagaratenjin013.jpg {{Shinto shrine Buildings and structures in Gifu Shinto shrines in Gifu Prefecture