Yabusame Ritual at Tsuchiura Hie Shrine

Tsuchiura City Hie Shrine ⛩️ The deity worshipped is Oyamakui-no-Mikoto. According to the shrine's legend, it was first enshrined in 807 by Hiyoshi Taisha in Omi Province as a deity for bountiful harvests. It served as the guardian deity of Tojoji Temple (now Tojoji Temple), which was founded in 796, and was a long-standing shrine for the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism. In 1708, it became part of the Tsuchiura domain, and was given the title of Shoichii Sawabeyama Sanno Gongen, as well as being the head shrine of the eight villages in the Yamanosho area. The shrine was called Sanno Daigongen or Yamanosho, but was renamed to its current name in 1869. In 1873, it was ranked as a local shrine, and in 1914, it was designated as a donation shrine. The yabusame ritual dedicated at the annual festival began in 810 and is counted among the three great Sanno-ryu yabusame. Its origin is as follows: Long ago, a mountain god was ravaging this region, and the desperate villagers discussed the matter and decided that the only way to appease the mountain god was to sacrifice a young girl as a human sacrifice. Deciding to act quickly, the villagers locked the young child in a coffin and abandoned him on the mountain. When Koganno Echizen-no-kami (also known as Juraten), the lord of Kabuto Castle, heard this, he was furious. He immediately invited his friend, the master archer Ichikawa Shogen, to head up the mountain, and they hid near the coffin containing the child and waited for the mountain god to come. Soon, a large monkey appeared. Shogen let loose his bow, and Jorakuten finished the monkey off by slicing its throat with his sword, and then took the child back to the village. The villagers were delighted, and this was passed down as a divine ritual to posterity, which became the Yabusame of Hie Shrine. Aside from that, the long approach to the shrine is worthy of Yabusame, and the grounds and shrine building are magnificent and magnificent. It is a famous shrine with the undisputed presence of a large shrine. #Yabusame #IbarakiPrefecture #TsuchiuraCity #TsuchiuraCityIbarakiPrefecture #LowestAttractivePrefecture #Shrine #TsuchiuraHieShrine