Hakkengū ( Japanese: 八剣宮) is a

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

established in 708 located in Atsuta-ku,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

, in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is the ''betsugū'' (auxiliary shrine) of the Atsuta Shrine. The legendary sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi, one of the three

Imperial Regalia of Japan The are the imperial regalia of Japan and consist of the sword , the mirror , and the jewel . They represent the three primary virtues: valour (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and benevolence (the jewel).

, is worshipped as the '' shintai'' of the shrine.

History

Hakkengū was established in 708. From the architectural style to the annual festivals and rituals, everything is done according to Atsuta Shrine's ''hongū'' (main shrine). Since ancient times, the

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

have been deeply worshipped. In 1575,

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

and his eldest son Kankurō encamped in Atsuta during the

Battle of Nagashino The was a famous battle in History of Japan, Japanese history, fought in 1575 at Nagashino Castle, Nagashino in Mikawa Province (present-day Nagashino, Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture). The allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu (38,000) ...

. Observing that Hakkengū had deteriorated to the point that it had lost its essential character, Nobunaga ordered the shrine to be repaired by his chief carpenter Okabe Mataemon. In 1599, ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers 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, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

repaired the '' haiden'' (hall of worship) and the shrine corridors and walls. In

1686 Events January–March * January 3 – In Madras (now Chennai) in India, local residents employed by the East India Company threaten to boycott their jobs after corporate administrator William Gyfford imposes a house tax on resid ...

, ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Tsunayoshi rebuilt the main shrine.

Deities

6 deities are worshipped at the Hakkengū shrine. * Atsuta no Ōkami * Amaterasu Ōmikami * Susanoo no Mikoto * Yamato Takeru no Mikoto * Miyazu-hime *

References

Shinto shrines in Nagoya 708 establishments Buildings and structures in Nagoya Setsumatsusha Atsuta Shrine Shinmei-zukuri {{Atsuta Faith