The 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

Shinjuku, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

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 ...

. This shrine was founded in the mid-17th century. Hanazono Jinja nestled in the heart of Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, Hanazono Jinja is a small and unobtrusive structure that, according to

Fodor's Fodor's is a publisher of English language travel and tourism information. Fodor's Travel and Fodors.com are divisions of Internet Brands. History Founder Eugene Fodor was a keen traveler, but felt that the guidebooks of his time were boring ...

, just happens to be one of the most historical shrines in Japan. Constructed in the Edo period by the Hanazono family, this Inari shrine—a shrine dedicated to Inari, the androgynous god of fertility and worldly success—is a favorite place for businessmen to pray for successful ventures.

History

Hanazono Shrine was originally founded before the start of 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 ...

, about 250 meters south of its present-day location. In the

Kan'ei was a after ''Genna'' and before ''Shōhō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1624 through December 1644. The reigning emperors and empress were , and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 411./ref> Chang ...

era, the shrine was relocated to the gardens of the

Owari-Tokugawa family The is a branch of the Tokugawa clan, and it is the seniormost house of the ''Gosanke'' ("three honourable houses of the Tokugawa").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 ...

’s vassal. Before 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 ...

, a branch temple of a

Shingon Buddhism Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. K ...

sect was enshrined with Hanazono’s Shinto shrine, and the Buddhist chief priest served as the manager of both. During 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 ...

that began in March of 1868, the Buddhist object of worship was abolished from Hanazono, and the religious space returned to only a Shinto shrine. At the time, it was named simply “town Inari shrine” because of a mistake in the submission to the official list of names. It was officially named "Hanazono Shrine" in 1965.

Annual events

* January 1 - Gantan, The Japanese New Year * January - Yunohana-Matsuri, New Year's bonfires * February -

Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in the old calendar in Japan. The name literally means 'seasonal division', referring to the day just before the first day of spring in the traditional calendar, known as ; though previously referri ...

Festival * February - Hatsu'uma-Matsuri, Festival on The First Horse's Day * May - Shinkō-sai, annual festival * June 30 - Nagoshi-no-harae, purification ceremony in the middle of the year * August -

Obon or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...

* November - Tori-no-Ichi, open-air market held at Rooster's day * December 31 - Toshikoshi-no-ōharae, purification ceremony in Ōmisoka, the last day of the year

Images

file:Hanazono-jinja honden.jpeg, Main building file:Geino-Asama-jinja.jpeg, Geinō-Asama-jinja, shrine for entertainers, in Hanazono-jinja file:Hanazono-jinja-torii 02.jpg, Torii gates in the precincts of Hanazono Jinja file:Thousand_lights_of_Cock_Festival_at_Hanazono_Shrine_in_Japan.jpg, Thousand Lanterns of Tori-no-Ichi file:Shinto worships at Cock Festival of Hanazono Shrine in Japan.jpg, Shinto worshipers file:Cock Festival gate of Hanazono Shrine in Japan.jpg, Festival Gate of Tori-no-Ichi file:Cock Festival at Hanazono Shrine in Japan.jpg, Tori-no-Ichi file:Hanazono-jinja Shinjuku fortunes.jpg, Fortunes tied to the stair railings at Hanazono-jinja on New years Day 2013 file:Walking the Tori.jpg, Walking along the lit path of

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 ...

at night at Hanazono Jinja

References

Inari shrines Shinjuku Shinto shrines in Tokyo {{shinto-stub

History

Annual events

Images

See also

References