Source: Daderot
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu founded by Minamoto Yoriyoshi in 1063. It is Kamakura’s most vital shrine and moved to its present site in 1180 by Minamoto Yoritomo, the first shogun and founder of the Kamakura authorities. The shrine is devoted to Hachiman, the Minamoto’s patron god the family and of the samurai in general.
1. Historical past
This shrine was initially inbuilt 1063 as a department of Iwashimizu Shrine in Zaimokuza the place tiny Moto Hachiman devoted and now stands to the Emperor Ōjin, his mom Empress Jingu and his spouse Hime-gami. Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founding father of the Kamakura shogunate, moved it to its current location in 1191 and invited to reside the Hachiman within the new location to guard his authorities.
2. The main hall
The primary corridor (Hongu) stands on a terrace on the top of a large stairway. The principle corridor features a small museum, which shows numerous treasures owned by the shrine, akin to masks, swords, and paperwork. The shrine is reached through a protracted, huge method that leads from Kamakura’s waterfront by all the metropolis heart, with a number of torii gates alongside the best way.
3. Shrine Pond
Source: Daderot
Flanking the principle approach to the shrine are two ponds. The first pond represents the Minamoto Clan and has 3 islands, whereas the opposite represents the Taira Clan, the Minamoto’s arch rivals, and has 4 islands because the quantity 4 might be pronounced the identical as “dying” in Japanese.
4. Shrine Garden
A garden recognized for its peonies, surroundings the Minamoto Pond midway. It’s open seasonally in winter and spring. To the left of the stairway, there’s a massive ginkgo tree, which predated the shrine, and was as soon as used such a hideout in an ambush assault on a shogun. Each autumn, the tree turned fantastically golden, nevertheless, it didn’t survive a winter storm in March 2010.
5. Events
Numerous events are held on the shrine all year long. Through the New Year holidays, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu when over two million guests one of the nation’s hottest shrines for hatsumode, and in mid-April and mid-September, horseback archery is carried out alongside the primary strategy to the shrine.
6. The giant ginkgo
Source: Chris 73
The ginkgo that had stood subsequent to Tsurugaoka Hachimangū’s stairway nearly from its basis and which seems in virtually each outdated print of the shrine was fully uprooted and enormously broken at four-forty within the morning on March 10, 2010. In line with a professional who analyzed the tree, the fall is probably going because of rot.
7. Get There and Around
Source: Daderot
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine could be reached from Kamakura Station both by way of the busy Komachi-Dori procuring road or alongside the Dankazura, a footpath within the middle of Wakamiya Oji Avenue that’s lined with a number of tons of cherry trees. By way of both routes, the stroll from Kamakura Station to the shrine takes about 10-quarter-hour.
Information
- Address: Kamakura 2 Chome-1-31 Yukinoshita, Kanagawa Prefecture 248-8588, Japan
- Hours: Open today · 8AM–8:30PM
- Phone: +81 467-22-0315
- Admission ends 30 minutes before closing
- Open 24 hours from January 1 to 3
- FEES Free (shrine museum: 200 yen)
Have a good trip and travel!
