Today we’d like to introduce you to Nagato Ichinomiya Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine.
Sumoyoshi-jinja Shrine is Shimonoseki is one of the three great Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrines (dedicated to the sumiyoshi dieties), amongst some 2,300 across Japan, including the head shrine in Osaka, and the Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine in Hakata, where ancient ways of thought are still alive today. It’s a location you can’t miss when you come to visit Yamaguchi Prefecture.
The centerpiece of the shrine is its Main Hall, a National Treasure, and one of just three buildings. The Main Hall was built in 1370 by the shogun Hiroyo Ouchi, and its unusual 9-ken (a ken being the distance between supporting pillars of the shrine) streamlined roof style (nagare-zukuri) is a unique feature that visitors can enjoy.
The Sumiyoshi-jinja front hall, in front of the main hall, was constructed in 1539 with a donation from daimyo Mori Motonari, and is designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
You can also hear that this shrine was an important place for the Ouchi and Mori clans, who were important historical figures.
Unlike Osaka’s Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine, Nagato Ichinomiya, this Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine at which many of history’s samurai prayed, the three sumiyoshi deities (Sokotsutsu-no-O-no-Mikoto, Nakatsutsu-no-O-no-Mikoto, and Uwatsutsu-no-O-no-Mikoto) are enshrined together, where their “aramitama,” or spirits are enshrined.
The same sumiyoshi deities may have two manifestations of its spirit, and each of these manifestations is enshrined separately, with the calm “nigitama” spirits enshrined at the main Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine, and at Nagato Ichinomiya Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine, their wild “aramitama” spirits are enshrined.
Like the main Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine, Nagato Ichinomiya also enshrines the spirit of Empress Jingu, as well as Emperor Ojin, 2nd century statesman Takenouchi no Sukune, and the deity Takeminakata.
Takeminakata, whose influence can be seen as far as Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, is enshrined here in one of the shrine’s interesting characteristics, and with Takeminakata’s famed power in battle, it may have been one of the reasons the Ouchi samurai clan favored this shrine.
The Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine in Nagato Yumoto also enshrines Shimonoseki’s great sumiyoshi geity as a god of hot springs.
| Name: | Nagato Ichinomiya Sumiyoshi-jinja Shrine |
| Address: | 1-chome 11-1 Ichinomiya Sumiyoshi, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture (Approx. 60 minutes by car from Bettei Otozure) |
| Telephone: | +81-83-256-2656 |
The Sumiyoshi-jinja front hall, in front of the main hall, was constructed in 1539 with a donation from daimyo Mori Motonari, and is designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
The Main Hall was built in 1370 by the shogun Hiroyo Ouchi. The beautiful architectural features of this hall, including the peaked “chidori-hafu” gables at the front of the hall, which are made to connect as one piece with the streamlined roof style (nagare-zukuri), as well as the building’s overall unusual 9-ken (a ken being the distance between supporting pillars of the shrine) construction are unique features that visitors can only enjoy here.
