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 ...

in the Ichinomiya neighborhood of the city of

Tsuyama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 102,294 and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area was 185.73 km². The area increased in 2005 as the result of a merger with adjacent to ...

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

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 the ''

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

Mimasaka Province or was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today northeastern Okayama Prefecture. Mimasaka bordered Bitchū, Bizen, Harima, Hōki, and Inaba Provinces. Mimasaka was landlocked, and was often ruled by the ''daimyō'' in Bizen. ...

. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on April 29. Although the ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' of the shrine's name is now pronounced "Nakayama", in the past the shrine was often referred to by its alternative pronunciation "Chuzen Jinja" or "Chuzen Dai-Gongen". Beppyo shrines

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 Nakayama Jinja are: * , god of mirrors * * , goddess of mirrors and metal casting

History

The origins of Nakayama Jinja are uncertain. According to the shrine's undocumented legend, it was founded in 707 AD. There is another theory that the shrine was built when Mimasaka Province separated from

Bizen Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces. Bizen ...

in 703. The earliest time the shrine appears in documentary evidence is in an entry dated 860 in the ''

Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku , abbreviated as Sandai Jitsuroku, is an officially commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 901, it is the sixth and final text in the Six National Histories series. It covers the years 858–887. Background Following the earlier nation ...

''. Per the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book about laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History In 905, Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ...

'', which was complied between 905 and 967 AD, the shrine is listed as the only in Mimasaka Province, and by the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, it was regarded as the ''

'' of the province. 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 ...

, in 1533, the shrine was burned down by

Amago Haruhisa was a ''daimyō'' warlord in the Chūgoku region of western Japan. He was the second son of Amago Masahisa. Initially named Akihisa (詮久), he changed his name to Haruhisa in 1541 after Ashikaga Yoshiharu offered to let him use a ''kanji'' chara ...

during his invasion of the province, and reconstructed by Haruhisa himself in 1559. After 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 ...

, it was designated as a in 1871.

Cultural properties

National Important Cultural Properties

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 ...

, constructed in 1559 as a donation by Amago Haruhisa. It is a three by three bay hall in a unique shrine architecture commonly known as "Nakayama-zukuri" which is found only in this area of Japan.

Gallery

File:Nakayama-jinja haiden.JPG, ''Haiden'' File:Nakayama-jinja kaguraden.JPG, Kagura stage File:Nakayama-jinja shinmon-2.JPG, Gate（Tsuyama City Tangible Cultural Property） File:Nakayama-jinja keyaki.JPG, Keyaki Tree（Tsuyama City Natural Monument） File:Nakayama-jinja torii.JPG, Torii

References

External links

Okayama Jinjacho home pageTsuyama City official homepage
{{Shinto shrine Shinto shrines in Okayama Prefecture Tsuyama Ichinomiya Important Cultural Properties of Japan