Watatsumi Shrine (海神社, Watatsumi Jinja) 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

Tarumi-ku, Kobe is one of nine wards of Kobe, Japan. It has an area of 26.89 km², and a population of 219,958 (2008). Tarumi is a suburban area in western Kobe, providing residential towns for commuters to downtown Kobe and even Osaka. The Akashi Kaikyō ...

.Ponsonby-Fane. ''Imperial,'' p. 127. It is said to have been founded by the legendary

Empress Jingu An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

(169–269 AD). It is one of the three major shrines of

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During the ...

. It has a festival on October 11. It is colloquially called due to that being a more common reading of the characters. It is also read as Kai Shrine or called Tarumi Shrine.

History

According to the shrine's legend,

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 ...

was nearly shipwrecked when returning to Japan from a military conquest in Korea. She survived thanks to praying to

Watatsumi , also pronounced Wadatsumi, is a legendary ''kami'' (神, god; deity; spirit), Japanese dragon and tutelary water deity in Japanese mythology. is believed to be another name for the sea deity Ryūjin (龍神, Dragon God) and also for the , which ...

, and made the shrine to honor him. There are 22 Watatsumi shrines in the region that claim to have been founded by her in these circumstances.

Ikasuri Shrine Ikasuri Shrine (坐摩神社, ''Ikasuri jinja'', also known as ''Zama jinja'') is a major Shinto shrine located in central Osaka, Japan. Its annual festival is on April 22. In the former modern system of ranked Shinto shrines it was an imperial ...

and

Ikuta Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Chūō Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country. History According to '' Nihon Shoki'', it was founded by the Empress Jingū at the beginning of the 3rd century AD to enshrine the ''ka ...

were both also made at the same time by the Empress. The son of Tomomi no Sukune who accompanied the Empress on her expedition became the first priest of the shrine. In 806 AD, the shrine was financially supported by taxes from ten households. It was listed as a Myojin Taisha, the highest rank of significant shrines in the 927 AD

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 ...

. In 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 characteriz ...

it gained a lot of significance for the rulers of the

Akashi 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 Akashi Castle, which is located in what is now the cit ...

, who visited it every February. Originally its main

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 simplest ...

was located on the beach like

Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto jinja (shrine), shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima, Hiroshima, Miyajima), best known for its "floating" ''torii'' gate.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005)"''Itsukushima-jinja''"in ''Japa ...

, but due to land reclamation after

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

its torii is now a fair bit inland.

Gallery

File:Haiden of Watatsumi Shrine.jpg, alt=, Haiden of Watatsumi Shrine File:Watatsumi-jinja (Tarumi, Kobe), haiden.jpg, alt=, Haiden of Kai-jinja Shrine in Tarumi, Kobe File:Kobe Watatsumi-jinja altar.jpg, alt=, Donation box File:Kobe-wtatumijinjya76.JPG, alt=, Honden File:Kobe Watatsumi-jinja torii.jpg, alt=, Torii File:Museum of Watatsumi Shrine.jpg, alt=, Exterior view of Museum of Watatsumi Shrine File:Torii of Inari Shrine, Ebisu Shrine and Sarutahiko Shrine in Watatsumi Shrine.jpg, alt=, Torii gates of Inari, Ebisu, Sarutahiko Shrines in Watatsumi Shrine File:Torii of Watatsumi Shrine 2.jpg, alt=, Torii gate at Watatsumi Shrine File:Torii of Watatsumi Shrine.jpg, alt=, Torii gate of Watatsumi Shrine File:View in Watatsumi Shrine 2.jpg, alt=, View within Watatsumi Shrine File:Kobe Watatsumi Shrine parking lot.jpg, alt=, Watatsumi Shrine grounds File:View of Haiden of Watatsumi Shrine.jpg, alt=, Haiden in Watatsumi Shrine File:Wadatsumi temple.JPG, alt=, Torii File:Watatusmi-Jinja.JPG, alt=, Torii File:Kobe Watatsumi Shrine view of Haiden through Torii from street.jpg, alt=, Torii File:海神社鳥居 Gateway to Watatsumi-jinja shrine.jpg, alt=, Large Torii similar to

References

Bibliography

* 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 a ...

. (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, the ...

. * Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959)
''The Imperial House of Japan.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 194887
* _______________. (1962)
''Studies in Shinto and Shrines.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 399449
* _______________. (1963)
''The Viciissitudes of Shinto.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society.

External links

* http://sanpai-japan.com/2022/07/28/katsurahama-beach-and-watatsumi-shrine/ {{coord, 34.62894, 135.05428, format=dms, type:landmark_region:JP, display=title Beppyo shrines Myōjin Taisha Kanpei Chūsha Buildings and structures in Kobe Shinto shrines in Hyōgo Prefecture

History

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

External links