, also known as Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine, is a

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

in Sumiyoshi-ku,

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is the main shrine of all the Sumiyoshi shrines in Japan. However, the oldest shrine that enshrines the

Sumiyoshi sanjin is the generic name for the three Shinto gods ''Sokotsutsu no O no Mikoto'' (底筒男命), ''Nakatsutsu no O no Mikoto'' (中筒男命), and ''Uwatsutsu no O no Mikoto'' (表筒男命). The Sumiyoshi sanjin are regarded as the gods of the sea and ...

, the three Sumiyoshi

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 ...

, is the Sumiyoshi Shrine in Hakata. It is called Sumiyoshi-san or Sumiyossan by the locals, and is famous for the large crowds that come to the shrine on New Year's Day for ''

hatsumōde is the first Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine visit of the Japanese New Year. Many visit on the first, second, or third day of the year as most are off work on those days. Generally, wishes for the new year are made, n ...

''. Sumiyoshi taisha enshrines the

(Sokotsutsu no Ono-mikoto, Nakatsutsu no Ono-mikoto, and Uwatsutsu no Ono-mikoto) (collectively known as the "Sumiyoshi Ōkami") and Okinagatarashi-hime no Mikoto (

Empress Jingū was a legendary Japanese empress who ruled as a regent following her husband's death in 200 AD. Both the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Nihon Shoki'' (collectively known as the ''Kiki'') record events that took place during Jingū's alleged lifetime. Leg ...

). It gives its name to a style of shrine architecture known as ''

Sumiyoshi-zukuri is an ancient Japanese Shinto shrine architectural style which takes its name from Sumiyoshi Taisha's ''honden'' in Ōsaka. As in the case of the '' taisha-zukuri'' and '' shinmei-zukuri'' styles, its birth predates the arrival of Buddhism in Jap ...

''.

History

The shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the early

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

. In 965,

Emperor Murakami was the 62nd emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 村上天皇 (62)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Murakami's reign spanned the years from 946 to his death in 967. Biography Before he ascended to ...

ordered that Imperial messengers were sent to report important events to the guardian ''kami'' of Japan. These ''heihaku'' were initially presented to 16 shrines including Sumiyoshi. Sumiyoshi was designated as the chief Shinto shrine (''

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 ...

'') for the former

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Setts ...

. From 1871 through 1946, Sumiyoshi taisha was officially designated one of the , meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines.

Sumiyoshi ''kami'' and Empress Jingū

Sumiyoshi taisha was founded by Tamomi no Sukune in the 11th year of

's reign (year 211). A member of a powerful family in the area, he was given the clan name of Owari by the empress, when she visited the coast of the

Gokishichidō was the name for ancient administrative units organized in Japan during the Asuka period (AD 538–710), as part of a legal and governmental system borrowed from the Chinese. Though these units did not survive as administrative structures beyon ...

(Modern Shichidou in Sakai, Osaka) after her return from her invasion of Korea without battle. At the same time, she told him to enshrine the Sumiyoshi sanjin, as she had been told to do so by an oracle from Amaterasu and three Sumiyoshi ''kami''. Later, the Empress herself was also enshrined at Sumiyoshi. The Tsumori clan, whose members have succeeded the position of head priest of Sumiyoshi taisha since the reign of Emperor Ōjin, are the descendants of Tamomi no Sukune's son, Tsumori no Toyoada (or Tsumori no Toyonogodan).

Other ''kami''

Sumiyoshi taisha is also regarded as the ancestor shrine of Hachiman, the god of war, as the shrine enshrines Empress Jingū, who was the mother of Emperor Ōjin, who was deified as Hachiman. Therefore, the shrine is guardian of the Kawachi bloodline of the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...

. Also, Hachiman is the god of war on land, and the Sumiyoshi gods are the gods of war on the sea. Later, Sumiyoshi-taisha became one of the three ''kami'' of

waka Waka may refer to: Culture and language * Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand ** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe ** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe ** Waka taua, a Māori w ...

Yamato Diplomacy and the Silk Road

Sumiyoshi-taisha is a shrine with connections to the ancient Yamato royalty's diplomacy and sailing, protecting the

Imperial embassies to China The Japanese missions to Imperial China were diplomatic embassies which were intermittently sent to the Chinese imperial court. Any distinction amongst diplomatic envoys sent from the Japanese court or from any of the Japanese shogunates was lost ...

. As the head priests, the Tsumori clan also boarded these embassy ships. The embassies departed from

Suminoe no Tsu {{short description, Oldest international port in Japan Suminoe no Tsu (住吉津) is the oldest international port in Japan. Said to be opened by Emperor Nintoku, Suminoe no Tsu was located on an inlet called ''Suminoe no Hosoe'' on the southern s ...

, a port on the Hosoe-gawa (also known as Hosoi-gawa. Known as Suminoe no Hosoe in ancient times), a river located to the south of the shrine. Suminoe no Tsu is the oldest international port in Japan, and was opened by Emperor Nintoku. It was the Silk Road's entrance into Japan.

Cultural references

Although Sumiyoshi taisha is currently completely landlocked, until the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, the shrine riding grounds (currently Sumiyoshi Park) faced the sea and were considered the representative of the beautiful "hakushaseishou" (white sand and green pines) landscape. So much so that this type of scenery in designs and art is known as the Sumiyoshi design. In

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period. She is best known as the author of '' The Tale of Genji,'' widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in Japanese between abou ...

's '' The Tale of Genji'', the shrine is used as an important stage in some chapters concerning the Akashi Lady. In the folktale "Issun-bōshi", an old couple who had no children prayed at Sumiyoshi taisha. Their prayers were granted. When their child went on a voyage, he departed at Sumiyoshi harbor, sailed down Hosoe-gawa to

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...

, sailed up the

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

, and entered

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, 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, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

Notable architecture

Construction style

The '' honden'' is built in the ''

'' style and has been designated a

national treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the funda ...

on the grounds that it is the oldest example of this style of architecture. There is an a forked finial, on the roof of the main shrine, as well as 5 square , billets placed horizontally along the length of the roo

There are no corridors around the sanctuary. It is surrounded by a plank , which is further surrounded by an . The pillars are round, and stand on stone foundations. The planks between the pillars are horizontal. The area seen from front is the nave, and beyond is the inner shrine and second room.

Sumiyoshi Torii

One of the stone

torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simple ...

at the shrine, just south of the honden, is known as the . It is unusual in that the middle bar does not extend outside of the vertical posts, and all pieces have square edges.Sumiyoshi Taisha.net
This type of ''torii'' is called ''Sumiyoshi torii'' after the shrine.

Notes

References

* Breen, John and

Mark Teeuwen Mark J. Teeuwen (Marcus Jacobus Teeuwen, born 9 February 1966, Eindhoven) is a Dutch academic and Japanologist. He is an expert in Japanese religious practices, and he is a professor at the University of Oslo.University of Oslo faculty CV/ref> In ...

. (2000)
''Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami.''
Honolulu:

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. * Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1962).
''Studies in Shinto and Shrines.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 399449
* ____________. (1959)
''The Imperial House of Japan.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 194887

External links

Official site
- Official movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumiyoshi Taisha Shinto shrines in Osaka 211 establishments National Treasures of Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan Beppyo shrines