Omihachiman (3) – Hachimanyama Mountain and Himure Hachimangu Shrine

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I introduced the old Japanese-style buildings, Western-style buildings, and old-fashioned streets remaining in Omihachiman in the last two posts. This time, I’ll introduce Mt. Hachiman, a temple on the top of the mountain, Zuiryuji Temple, and a Shinto shrine at the foot of the mountain, Himure Hachimangu Shrine.

1. Mt. Hachiman and Walking Route on the Mountain
Mt. Hachiman, having a height of 271.9 meters, is on the north side of the town area. It takes about 4 minutes using a ropeway to get to the top of the mountain from the foot. From the mountaintop station, you will find a circular promenade which takes around 30 minutes on foot to go around. Toyotomi Hidetsugu (the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi) constructed Hachimanyama Castle on this mountain, the castle being the last mountain castle having honmaru, a main building of the castle, ninomaru, a second building (on the southeast), nishinomaru, a west building, kitanomaru, a north building, and demaru, a fortress building (on the southwest). The Hachimanyama Castle was abandoned after Hidetsugu fell on his own sword during the succession race of the Toyotomi family, and now only the castle walls made of stones remain. The promenade is extended along the ruin of the castle and so it is a mountain path, but the path is maintained to easily walk and there are smooth places in the path, from which you can look out over the town area of Omihachiman or Lake Biwa. It was fine and comfortable on the day I visited there, but distant views could be only seen vaguely due to spring haze.

2. Murakumogosho Zuiryuji Temple
When you walk on the promenade from the Mountaintop Station while looking at nozurazumi* castle walls, you will see Zuiryuji Temple in a few minutes at a place where the honmaru stood before. The temple was founded by Hidetsugu’s mother in 1596 in Kyoto for mourning her son, Hidetsugu. In 1961, the temple was removed from Kyoto and reconstructed in the present place associated with Hidetsugu. Many hina dolls were exhibited in rooms of the temple on the day I visited. I was overwhelmed by the abundance and gorgeousness of the dolls and overly distracted by them. I have a frustrating feeling now because I noticed it after going home that I didn’t carefully look at the appearance and interior of the temple. Paintings painted by Hideki Kimura were shown in the main temple and passageways. I felt that a kind and friendly atmosphere spread in the whole temple because the temple is an amamonseki temple, which is a nunnery in Buddhism in which an imperial princess or daughter of a court noble has been for generations in the service of the chief priest of the temple.

*Nozurazumi A method for stacking stones to make a stone wall in which the stones to be used are mostly unprocessed natural stones. The size and shape of the stones used aren’t unified so as to form spaces between the stones, and the spaces are filled with small stones.

In the picture, the Japanese word “Shumidan” means a platform to place and enshrine Buddha.

3. Himure Hachimangu Shrine
Himure Hachimangu Shrine, located at the base of Mt. Hachiman, is a very old Shinto shrine having an oral tradition in which the shrine was founded in 131. When Toyotomi Hidetsugu constructed the Hachimanyama Castle, shrine buildings were planned to be moved, but the moving was canceled due to the abandonment of the castle and the appearance of the shrine buildings have been kept up to the present time. Omihachiman continued to develop as the castle town even after the castle was demolished, and the Hachimangu shrine is still revered by Omihachiman people as a guardian deity. When you pass through the two-storied gate, you will see the front shrine in front of you, and then see the inner shrine and subordinate shrines lined after going up stairs located on both sides of the front shrine. The shrine buildings are all old wooden buildings. The day I visited there was the day before Sagicho Festival, and the precincts were noisy because there were many people and trucks preparing for the festival. The Sagicho Festival is a fire festival for praying for spiritual protection of the nation and bumper crops, and it was established as the festival of the Hachimangu Shrine when Hidetsugu founded this castle town.

What do you think about Omihachiman?
The size of this town is not so large, but so many interesting things are packed in the town; for example, you can see old Japanese-style residences, old Western-style buildings and old shrine and temple buildings and enjoy various scenes in the town and mountains, and at the watersides. In addition, you can enjoy cruising around the Hachimanbori area, though I couldn’t utilize the seasonal service. Now, I’m planning to take a river cruse next time.