Isonokami-Jingu Shrine is one of the oldest shrines in Japan, located at Tenri-City, Nara Prefecture. Its origin goes back to Kofun Period (250 to 700), and the shrine is printed on Kojiki and Nihon Shoki (they are the oldest works of Japanese history). The shrine has been believed as a guardian deity granting a long and healthy life, disease recovery, warding off misfortune and bringing good fortune, and success in all things. It also played a role as an armory of the government of the day (Yamato Court). The shrine has many evergreen trees in its precincts and stands in an area crowded with ancient tombs. In the old days, the shrine had no main shrine but, instead of it, a sacred forbidden ground. The ground is at the back of a worship hall, where the main enshrined deity was buried. The main enshrined deity of this shrine is Futsunomitama-no-tsurugi or the divine sword Futsunomitama. It was actually excavated from the sacred forbidden ground in the Meiji Era. The present main shrine was built in the Taisho Era for deifying the excavated divine sword, but the sacred forbidden ground is the holiest place in Isonokami-Jingu Shrine even now.
It’s located about 2 kilometers to the east of Tenri Station on JR line or Kintetsu line, and it takes about 30 minutes on foot or less than 10 minutes by taxi. The Japan’s oldest road, the ancient road Yamanobe, passes through the precincts of this shrine.
Now, let’s visit Isonokami-Jingu Shrine with me.
Purple Number
1. O-Torii Gate
2. Izumotakeo-Jinja Shrine Worship Hall
3. Izumotakeo Jinjya Shrine
4. Tenjinsha Shrine
5. Nanazasha Shrine
6. Sarutahiko-Jinja Shrine
Pink Number
1. Two-Storied Gate
2. Worship Hall
3. Main Shrine and Sacred Forbidden Ground
1. O-Torii Gate and Sacred Chicken
O-Torii Gate has a height of 7 meters, a width of 10 meters and a diameter of a column forming the gate of 76 centimeters. The approach extends from west to east. We heard crying of chickens before passing through the torii gate. In Isonokami-Jingu Shrine, 30 chickens (Go-shinkei or sacred chickens) live in comfort in the precincts. Chickens are written in Kojiki and Nihon Shoki and have been considered as a messenger of a god since long ago because they cry at daybreak.
Several cedar trees being more than 300 year-old stand in the precincts, which are called “Kami Sugi (God Cedar.)” The Kami Sugi on the west is 30 meters in height, 3.4 meters in trunk grith, is more than 350 year-old. The Kami Sugi on the west 35 meters in height, 4.1 meters in trunk girth, and about 400 year-old. Something like symbols were written on the precincts swept clean using a watering can.
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O-Torii Gate
Monument Engraved with Japanese Poem
Kami Sugi on the west
Kami Sugi on the east
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Chickens Hanging around Purification Fountain
Chickens walking from Place to Place
Something like Symbol Drawn in Water
Something like Symbol Drawn in Water
Kagami-Ike Pond
Many Big Trees in Precincts
2. Two-Storied Gate and Worship Hall
You will find a wall of a corridor and a two-storied gate on the left when you go straight east after passing through the torii gate. The two-storied gate was built in 1318. The gate had a ring in the upper layer (so the gate was a dual-layered bell tower gate) in the past, but the bell was removed from the gate and sold at the early Meiji Era. The corridors have lattice windows and painted yellow and green, extending from both sides of the two-storied gate. The corridor is built so that it encloses yuniwa, between the worship hall and the two-storied gate, or a sacred garden for deifying the gods.
The worship hall, according to the oral tradition, was a Shinkaden Hall, which had been built in the Imperial Palace, donated by the Emperor Shirakawa in 1081, but actually it’s considered by the classification of architectural forms that it was built in the early Kamakura Period. Either way, the worship hall of the shrine is the oldest among existing worship halls in Japan, and is designated as a National Treasure.
It is, of course, prohibited to enter the main shrine, but we were able to look at a part of the roof of the main shrine behind the worship hall. A place at the back of the worship hall is the sacred forbidden ground having an area of about 1,300 square meters.
Two-Storied Gate
Worship Hall
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Two-Storied Gate
Two-Storied Gate Seen from Sacred Garden Side
Corridor and Two-Storied Gate in the back
Two-Storied Gate
Roof of Two-Storied Gate
Tow-Storied Gate
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Worship Hall (right), Corroidor (left), and Sacred Garden (in front)
Worship Hall (left), Corroidor (right), and Sacred Garden (in front)
Two-Storied Gate, and Roofs of Worship Hall and Main Hall from the left
You can see the roof of the main hall behind the worship hall.
The roof of the main hall is on the left side.
Lanterns in Worship Hall
3. Subsidiary Shrine and Auxiliary Shrine
We saw stone steps across the two-storied gate, and we went up the steps to see multiple shrine buildings. They were subsidiary shrines and an auxiliary shrine of Isonokami-Jingu Shrine. The place was a small hill and heavily forested. Just so you know, subsidiary shrines are those deifying deities deeply connected to the main enshrined deity of the shrine, the auxiliary shrine is that other than the above.
(i) Worship Hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine (subsidiary shrine)
When you go up the steps, you will see the worship hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine on the right. It had been the worship hall of another shrine but was moved as the worship hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine which is the subsidiary shrine of this shrine. It was built in 1137, and rebuilt twice in the 13th and 14th centuries. This building is designated as a National Treasure.
(ii) Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine (subsidiary shrine)
A torii gate stands across a road from the worship hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya, and the main shrine of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine stands behind the torii gate. The main enshrined deity of the shrine is Izumotakeo-no-Kami, which is a wild spirit (one of the aspects of the soul of a kami) of Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
(iii) Two Subsidiary shrines and one Auxiliary Shrine
Sarutahiko-Jinja Shrine (an auxiliary shrine) stands on the right side of and Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine and you will find subsidiary shrines, Nanazasha Shrine and Tenjinsha Shrine when you walk to the right a little.
A forest extending under the worship hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine is the sacred grove of Isonokami-Jingu Shrine and designated as a natural treasure by Nara Prefecture. When you further walk to the back from the two-storied gate, you will find a giant tree of Quercus, which is 25 meters in height, 4.15 meters in trunk girth, and 300 year-old, and a large ginkgo tree, which is 30 meters in height, 3.26 meters in trunk girth, and 300 year-old.
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Worship Hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine
Worship Hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine
Inside of Worship Hall of Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine
Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine
Sarutahiko-Jinja Shrine
Giant Tree of Red-Bark Oak
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Izumotakeo-Jinjya Shrine (left) and Sarutahiko-Jinja Shrine (right)
Nanazasha Shrine
Tenjinsha Shrine
Sacred Grove of Isonokami-Jingu Shrine
Large Ginkgo Tree
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