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 Tadadokoro neighborhood of the city of Kawanishi in

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

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 ...

. The shrine is also called ‘Tada-Daigongen-Sha’ or ‘Kansai Nikko’, literally, ‘Nikko of Western Japan’. This shrine is the shrine of the

Seiwa Genji The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the foun ...

clan from which

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

and many subsequent

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

and ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' clans claimed descent. This shrine is one of

Three Genji Shrines are a group of three Japanese Shinto shrines connected with the Seiwa Genji group (the descent from Emperor Seiwa) of the Minamoto clan. * Rokusonnō Shrine, Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture * Tada Jinja, Kawanishi, Hyōgo Prefecture * Tsu ...

, with

Rokusonnō Shrine Rokusonnō Shrine (六孫王神社) is a Shinto shrine located in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is one of the Three Genji Shrines, a group of three Japanese Shinto shrines connected with the Seiwa Genji group (the descent from Em ...

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 ...

and

Tsuboi Hachimangū Tsuboi Hachimangū (壺井八幡宮, ''Tsuboi Hachimangū'') is a Shinto shrine located in Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is a Hachiman shrine, dedicated to the kami Hachiman. It was established in 1064. Its main festival is held annuall ...

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 2. ...

. The shrine was designated a National Historic Site in 1951.

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 Tada Jinja are: * , also known as * * * *

History

In 970, Settsu-no-kami

Minamoto no Mitsunaka was a Japanese samurai and court official of the Heian period. He served as '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' and acting governor of Settsu Province''.'' His association with the Fujiwara clan made him one of the wealthiest and most powerful courtiers of his ...

, the founder of the

clan, received an oracle from Sumiyoshi Ōkami to established his residence in what is now Kawanishi. A temple (commonly known as Tada-in) was built, as Mitsunaka, converted to Buddhism following the visit of Ingen (954–1028),

Genshin , also known as , was the most influential of a number of scholar-monks of the Buddhist Tendai sect active during the tenth and eleventh centuries in Japan. Genshin, who was trained in both esoteric and exoteric teachings, wrote a number of tre ...

(942–1017), and Kaku'ub, of the

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

sect. The new convert declared, "You have shown me such extraordinary virtuous things. I'm someone who has killed an immeasurable number of living things. I'd like to atone for these sins. By building a Buddhist Hall I will stop committing any more crimes and save the lives of living things." "What is known as Tada-in is a cluster of halls that began to be built with this one." When Mitsunaka died in 997 he was buried in Tada-in. In 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 ...

, the temple was regarded as the ancestral mausoleum of Seiwa-Genji, but it gradually declined. In the middle of the Kamakura period,

Hojo Yasutoki Hojo or Hōjō may refer to: Hojo or HoJo: *Howard Johnson's, a U.S. chain of restaurants and hotels *A nickname for Howard Johnson *A nickname for Howard Jones *A nickname for Howard Jones *MGR-1 Honest John, the first nuclear-capable missile ...

, the ''

shikken The was a titular post held by a member of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate, from 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, and so he was head of the ''bakufu'' (shogunate). It was part of the era referred to as . During rou ...

'' of the

Kamakura Shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...

, became the land steward of Tada-sho ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'', he decided to carry out a large-scale reconstruction of the Tada-in. In 1273, Ninsho of

Saidai-ji or the "Great Western Temple" is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples in the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The temple was first established in AD 765 as a counterpart to Tōdai-ji and it is the main tem ...

was appointed to undertake the restoration, and as a result, the temple changed from the Tendai sect to the

Shingon Risshu The is a comparatively small medieval sect of Buddhism in Japan that arose in the Kamakura period as an offshoot of Shingon Buddhism. Its founder was a monk named Eison (叡尊 1201-1290), a disciple of Jōkei, and carried further by Eison's disci ...

sect. In 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 ...

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromac ...

, who was a descendent of the Seiwa Genji, revered the Tada-in, and temple became a mortuary temple for the

Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establ ...

, with the ashes of successive generations of

shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

buried at the temple. However, the temple was destroyed by the forces of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

in 1577. It remained in ruins until restored in 1665 by

Sakakibara Tadatsugu is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, a Japanese samurai and martial artist *Nobuyuki Sakakibara, a Japanese businessman and mixed martial arts promoter *Seito Sakakibara, alias of the perpetrator of the Kobe child mur ...

Himeji Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Himeji Castle, which is located in what is now the ...

Inaba Masanori was a ''daimyō'' of Odawara Domain in Sagami Province (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture) in early-Edo period Japan. His courtesy title was '' Mino no Kami''. Biography Inaba Masanori was the second son of the previous daimyō of Odawara, Inaba ...

Odawara Domain 250px, Odawara Castle, Headquarters of the Odawara Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located primarily in western Sagami Province (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture). It was centered on Odawara Castle in what is now the city of Odawar ...

and the descendants of the Tada-in retainers. Shogun

Tokugawa Ietsuna was the fourth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan who was in office from 1651 to 1680. He is considered the eldest son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, which makes him the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. E ...

granted an estate with a ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 54 ...

'' of 500 ''

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 ...

'' for its upkeep, and most of its structures were rebuilt by 1667. As with the Ashikaga, successive generation of the

Tokugawa shogun 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' ...

s ashes and ''

ihai A spirit tablet, memorial tablet, or ancestral tablet, is a placard used to designate the seat of a deity or past ancestor as well as to enclose it. The name of the deity or past ancestor is usually inscribed onto the tablet. With origins in tra ...

'' mortuary tablets with enshrined at the temple. Shogun

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, as well as the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.Nussbaum, Louis-Fr ...

restored the main shrine building in 1695. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, due to the separation of Shintoism and Buddhism by the government, Tada-in was transformed into a

enshrining Minamoto no Mitsunaka,

Minamoto no Yorimitsu , also known as Minamoto no Raikō, served the regents of the Fujiwara clan along with his brother Yorinobu, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take. He is one of the earliest Minamoto of historical note for his mil ...

Minamoto no Yorinobu was a samurai commander and member of the powerful Minamoto clan. Along with his brother Yorimitsu, Yorinobu served the regents of the Fujiwara clan, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take. He held the title, p ...

Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was a Japanese samurai lord who was the head of the Minamoto clan and served as '' Chinjufu-shōgun''. Along with his son Minamoto no Yoshiie, he led the Imperial forces against rebellious forces in the north, a campaign called the Zenkunen War, ...

, and

Minamoto no Yoshiie Minamoto No Yoshiie (源義家; 1039 – 4 August 1106), also known as Hachimantarō, was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' (Commander-in-chief of the defense of the North). The first son of Minamoto ...

as ''

''. The shrine was ranked as a Prefectural Shrine under the

Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines The was an organizational aspect of the establishment of Japanese State Shinto. This system classified Shinto shrines as either official government shrines or "other" shrines. The official shrines were divided into #Imperial shrines (''kampeisha ...

Gallery

File:Tada-jinja, haiden-2.jpg, Haiden（ICP） File:Tada-jinja, zuishinmon.jpg, Zuishinmon（ICP） File:Tada-jinja, nandaimon.jpg, MInami Daimon（兵庫県指定文化財） File:Tada-jinja, higashimon.jpg, Higashi-mon（兵庫県指定文化財） File:Tada-jinja, nishimon.jpg, Nishi-mon（兵庫県指定文化財） File:Tada-jinja, otorii.jpg, Ōtorii File:Tada-jinja byo.jpg, Grave of Minamoto no Yorimitsu

Cultural Properties

Important Cultural Properties

*, built in 1667 *, built in 1667 *, built in 1667 *, 43 scrolls with 492 document

National Tangible Cultural Properties

*, built in 1667

References

External links

*
Hyogo Tourism home page
{{Authority control Shinto shrines in Hyōgo Prefecture Settsu Province Kawanishi, Hyōgo Important Cultural Properties of Japan Historic Sites of Japan Minamoto clan Beppyo shrines Ken-sha