Hikosan Shrines Fukuoka

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. Shinto Shrine (jinja　神社) - Introduction .
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Hikosan　 英彦山 / 彦山　Hikosan Shrines, Fukuoka and Oita
大分県中津市 / 福岡県田川郡添田町 Soeda-Machi, Tagawa-gun, Fukuoka

There are three peaks, Minami-dake (Southern Peak) 南岳 (1,200m), Naka-dake (Middle Peak) 中岳 (1,188m) Kita-Dake 北岳 (Northern Peak) (1,192m) and various Shrines on the way.
There are three torii gates as the stone steps go up the uppermost shrine on the mountain.

Hikosan Jingu 英彦山神宮 - 奉幣殿 Hohei-Den at about 720 meters high.
The main deity of the mountain is Hikosan Gongen 彦山権現 - (see below) - .

And the shrine at the top - 英彦山神宮上津宮


source : wikipedia

On the way up the long stone stairway there are various torii 鳥居 Shrine gates to pass, each leading to a different, deeper realm of the sacred mountain.

kane no torii 銅鳥居 The Great Bronze Gate at the entrance is about 7 meters high. It has been an offering by the lord of Shiga Domain, 鍋島勝茂 Nabeshima Katsushige (1580 - 1676).

ni no torii 二の鳥居 second gate
san no torii 石製の三の鳥居 third gate made from stone

- reference and photos : tetsuyosie/fukuoka -

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Hiko-san is one of Kyushu’s finest hikes. During autumn, the colours of the turning leaves are simply stunning; vivid hues of red, gold and purple adding brilliance to the hike’s many panoramic view points.
Hiko-san is notable also for its shrines which line the trail. The largest of these,
Hohei-den 奉幣殿 (built in 1616), is the most majestic and can be enjoyed for its history and magnificent sloping roof.



From Kane-no-torii there are two options for ascending to the start of the trail. The recommended option is to walk the great stone staircase to Hohei-den, which can be found just to the left of the car park. This ancient staircase, lined by maple and camphor trees, passes under several torii gates and has been well-trodden and worn by centuries of pilgrims travelling to Hohei-den. In 2005, a small mono-rail was built that runs parallel to the staircase and will transport you to Hohei-den in just under 15 minutes.
Just in front of the main shrine, a steep staircase runs upwards. This staircase continues to the Naka-dake (1,188m) summit . . .

Tamaya-jinja 玉屋神社,
which is built into a sheer cliff that rises impressively over the shrine. A sacred spring lies next to the shrine, where water coalesces in small droplets that drip from the roof of a moss covered grotto.

Onisugi 鬼杉, "Demon's cedar", a 1,200 year old cedar tree that presides over the rest of the forest.

Daiminami-jinja 大南神社
which, like Tamaya-jinja is built into the rock face behind it. A set of chains leads up the mountain to the right of the shrine, aiding the ascent.

On top of Naka-dake lies Jōgū 上宮, the uppermost shrine of Hōhei-Den.


Takasumi-jinja 高住神社,
the final shrine of the hike. Secluded in a forest, this shrine rivals both the majesty of Hohei-den and the beauty of Tamya-jinja. A bronze bull has been made golden by the touch of passersby and is supposed to possess healing powers, which may come in use after the tricky descent.

- - - - - Look at more photos and the full text :
- source : fukuoka-now.com - Oscar Boyd -

- - - - - Deities in residence - - - - -
Amenooshihomimi no Mikoto 天之忍穂耳命
Izanagi and Izanami no Mikoto




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shuin　朱印 stamp and stamp book



omamori お守り　amulet


The shrine was originally built in 740 as a center of training for the Shugendō sect of Buddhism. However, the Shugendō temple was abolished by the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration. Reisen-ji (霊泉寺), the head temple of the Tendai Buddhism, was converted into Hikosan Jinja (英彦山神社).
In 1975, it was renamed to its present name, Hikosan Jingū.


CLICK for more photos of the shrine !

- - - - - HP of the Shrine
- source : hikosanjingu.or.jp -

- List of all the sub-shrines in the precincts:
- source : hikosanjingu.or.jp/info -

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wakudo iwa わくど岩 the Frog Rock
Wakudo わくど is the local dialect for frog or toad.



In the middle of Mount Hikosan three is a plain called Takasuhara たかす原 with a special rock formation,
just like a huge frog 蟇.
Once upon a time
a great frog came up to Mount Hikosan. He was heading for a smaller hill and begun his climb slowly. But as he climbed up slowly, the nearby fields and paddies sunk into a muddy sea. Many farmers were in deep trouble now. When Hikosan Gongen saw what happened, he threw the huge frog down from the hill and in no time the fields and paddies were back in their former splendor.
But a few years later, the huge frog started his climb again, each year the length of one grain of rice and if he would ever reach the top, the whole region would become submerged by the sea. This time Hikosan Gongen wanted to prevent the huge frog from doing any further damage to the farmers and removed the small hill from the region.
Again the huge frog tumbled down to the plain and there became a huge rock.


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亀石坊 Kameishi-Bo "Turtle Stone Dwelling"

The Old Kameishibo Garden 旧亀石坊庭園 is a garden which was built by the Muromachi Era artist-monk Sesshu.




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Hikosan odori 彦山踊 / 英彦山踊り Hikosan dance

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Three traditional performing arts of Soeda Machi
In the Kamitsuno and Shimotsuno settlements in Soeda Machi, the "Tsuno Kagura" is dedicated for the Jinko-sai (Jinko festival) held by Takagi Shrine at the beginning of May every year. The kagura (Shinto music and dance performance) is performed by the Tsuno Kagura Preservation Association, and performance items consist of the following 12 performance items:
"Kome-maki," "Orii," "Mifuku," "Shime kiri," "Ji-wari," "bon," "San-no kiri," "San-bon Tsurugi," "Tsuna Misaki,"
"Yumi Kagura," "Hana Kagura," and "Iwato."
In Noda settlement,
the "Noda Shishi-gaku" is dedicated for the Jinko-sai (Jinko festival) held by Kamo Shrine at the beginning of May every year. Performing groups are divided mainly into the "gaku-uchi" group (who play musical instruments) and the "shishimai" group, where gaku-uchi is performed by elementary school boys and shishimai is performed by young adult men. There are five performance items:
"Godan," "Maeniwa," "Baba-iri," "Shin Baba-iri," and "Shinden Utsushi."



"Hiko-san Odori" (Hiko-san dance) is a highly elegant dance which is said to have been introduced by the priest of Hikosan Shrine in the Nanbokucho period (the Northern and Southern Courts period) around 1333. This dance is performed every year as a dedication for the "opening of Hiko-san mountain" and as a "requiem prayer."
- source : bunkashisan.ne.jp -


幣たてゝ彦山踊月の出に
nusa tatete Hikosan odori tsuki no de ni

placing the Nusa wand
for the Hikosan dance
as the moon comes out

. Sugita Hisajo 杉田久女 .
Hisajo liked the area and even climbed to the peak of the mountain.


. Kagura Dance　神楽 - Introduction .

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Hikosan shinkō　英彦山信仰
Beliefs and practices associated with Mt Hiko, in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. Hiko is made up of three peaks: Minamidake, Nakadake, and Kitadake, the highest of which is Minamidake at 1200 m.

Formerly "Hiko" was written with the characters 日子, meaning "child of the sun"; in the first half of the ninth century, during the reign of the Emperor Saga, it was changed to the single character 彦, and then again to 英彦, its present designation, in 1729, at the order of the Retired Emperor Reigen.
According to the Kamakura-period Hikosan ruki, the Gongen of the Three Places of Mt Hiko (Hikosan sansho gongen) was composed of Mt Zokutai in the south (Shaka), Mt Hottai in the north (Amida) and Mt Nyotai in the center (Thousand-armed Kannon).
The present shrine Hikosan Jingū Honsha (the jōgū, or "upper shrine") is located on the central peak and amalgamates the enshrined deities (saijin) of the other two peaks. Formerly there were nine other sacred sites:
Mt. Hakusan, Daigyōji, Kitayamadono, Hannya Cave (Tamaya), Ōminami Cave, Buzen Cave, Chimuro Cave, Takanosu Cave, and the middle shrine (chūgū).

Added to the Gongen of the Three Places, they were worshipped as the Gongen of the Twelve Places (Hikosan jūnisho gongen). Altogether there were 49 caves, sites of veneration and religious training, which were considered to correspond to the 49 halls of the Tushita heaven, the dwelling-place of Maitreya. Each was said to have contained statues of the Gongen of the Three Places or protector deities, but today the only ones which remain sites of veneration are the Hannya, Ōminami, Buzen and Chimuro caves.
The caves can be thought to preserve an aspect of religious practice which was prominent in the medieval period, that of retreat (komori) inside caves, before the introduction of mountain asceticism in the form of moving from one sacred place to another (tosō).

Seasonal mountain entry rituals (junbu in spring, hanaku no mine in summer and gyakubu in autumn) took form during the Muromachi period. Here, Mt Hiko was considered to be the realm of the Womb Mandala, while the role of Diamond Mandala was fulfilled by Mt Hōman in spring and Mt Fukuchi in autumn.

Forty-eight places of ascetic training (gyōba) were established over a sixty kilometer route through the mountains, and the goal of training was represented as the unity of the two mandalas. Most of the sites fell into disuse after the discontinuation of mountain-entry rituals in 1870.

According to founding legends, Ame no Oshihomimi, son of Amaterasu, descended to this mountain and was enshrined here, En no Ozunu, with his mother on his back, climbed Mt Hiko and then went to China by way of Mt Hōman, and Jugen, having trained at Ōmine, brought the divided spirit of Kumano Gongen here.

Another legend says that Zenshō, a priest from the state of Northern Wei in China, brought a Buddhist statue to Hiko and taught a hunter called Fujiwara Kōyū about the precept of not taking life by means of a miraculous occurrence whereby he restored to life, as a white hawk, a white deer the hunter had pursued and shot.

In 538 Zenshō built a hermitage called Reisen on the mountain, and Kōyū, having taken the Buddhist name Ninniku, became his successor. The third priest in the lineage, Hōren, went to Kyoto at the order of the Emperor Saga; at this time the characters to write Hiko were changed (see above) and the hermitage was given the temple name of Reisenji.
It also received a land commendation ("seven ri in the four directions"), which it kept throughout the medieval period.

Hiko later thrived as a center for yamabushi; at its height it had 3800 priests, and, with Ōmine and Haguro, it was counted as one of the three great Shugendō sites of Japan.
In 1333, the imperial prince Yasuhito (said to have been a son of the Emperor Go-Fushimi) was invited to the temple as its head prelate (zasu　座主), and the shrine-temple complex on the mountain was organized under a hereditary married head, made up of priests (shūtō), kami priests (jinin) and shugen priests.
Shugendō rituals and organization became fixed during the Muromachi period.

Of particular importance were doctrinal developments, in which Hiko played a leading role. A comprehensive compilation of records was made by Akyūbō Sokuden (dates unknown), who had come to Hiko from Nikkō.

In the Edo period, Hiko was not under the authority of either Honzanha or Tōzanha, but maintained its independence from them. However in 1696, as a result of a dispute with Shōgoin (head temple of Honzanha), Hiko was designated a "special headquarters Shugen temple of Tendai" (Tendai Shugen bekkaku honzan). Its economic base was an income of 1200 koku donated by the Hosokawa and Ogasawara clans, plus the distribution of talismans and medicines among supporters (danna) throughout Kyushu, as well as the promotion of pilgrimage (sankei) to Hiko.
By the end of the Edo period,
it had 250 shugen priests and around 420,000 households in its parishes. The organization of the yamabushi was threefold – gyōjakata, shūtōkata, and sōkata, with lower-ranking shugen priests below them. All were under the authority of the zasu.
As a result of the separation of buddha and kami worship (shinbutsu bunri) and anti-Buddhist actions (haibutsu kishaku), virtually all buildings associated with Shugendō were lost, with the exception of the former Great Hall, which was converted into the shrine's Buheiden. Shugendō ritual was also abolished.
The shrine-temple complex known as Hikosan Gongen became Hikosan Shrine, the Buzenbō became Takanushi Shrine, and Hannyakutsu became Tamaya Shrine.
The zasu became the hereditary gūji. The shrine supported devotees of the confraternities (kō), drawn mainly from farming families.
The clay bell, a famous souvenir of Mt Hiko, is still used as a magical implement for agricultural rituals among farmers.
- source : Suzuki Masataka Kokugakuin 2006 -

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Hikosan no garagara 英彦山のガラガラ 　clay bell clapper against insects

They are a kind of clay bell (Hikosan dorei 英彦山土鈴), said to be the oldest ones used by the Shugendo ascetics.

Some even had a tengu goblin mask on the bell
Hikosan no iwaidai dorei 英彦山の祝鯛土鈴 clay bell with festive sea bream
筒型鳥居鈴 clay bell with the metal torii gate
Hikosan no itajishi 英彦山の板獅子 lion head on a wooden plate
- - - - - Haiku about 豊前坊 Buzen-Bo.
- - - - - annual festivals 祭典行事

. Amulets from Hikosan 英彦山 お守り .

. Buzenboo, Buzenbō 豊前坊 Buzenbo Tengu .
彦山豊前坊 - Hikozan Buzenbo, Fukuoka

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Hikosan Gongen Chikai no Sukedachi　 彦山権現誓助剣
Kabuki play



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The play "Hikosan Gongen Chikai no Sukedachi" was originally written for the puppet theater (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in the 10th lunar month of 1786 in Ôsaka at the Higashi no Shibai.
- - - - - Summary
Disguising himself as a traveling gambler named Dôhachi, Takumi preys on passers-by by his rigged gambling. When one of the victims accuses him of fraud, Takumi beats him up. He then exchanges pleasantries with street girls and goes away.

Sagohei, an old servant to Osono, appears and, giving money to the street girls, asks them to go away immediately. After they have gone, Osono arrives in a palanquin and, pretending to be a street girl, solicits passers-by. She inserts her hand into their sleeves and feels their arms as a means of identifying Takumi, who has a scar in the upper arm.

She makes her try first on a samurai and then on a sumô wrestler. The third person approached by her happens to be Todoroki Dengoemon, a former fencing disciple of Ichimisai and now chief retainer of the Lord of Kokura. He recognizes Osono as Ichimisai's daughter and gives her a wooden traveling certificate, which would enable her to pass through barriers on her tour in search of Takumi.

After Todoroki Dengoemon has gone, Tomohei arrives and tells Osono that Okiku was killed by Takumi. As evidence he shows a small bag containing Takumi's navel string which he found beside Okiku's body. He then kills himself by way of apology for his failure to protect Okiku from Takumi's attack. Just before he breathes his last, Tomohei throws Takumi's navel string into a pond. In no time clouds of spray rise from the pond and the incense burner in Osono's bosom issues a strange sound.

Takumi reappears as if drawn by a supernatural power. He realizes by intuition that he is the son of the late Mitsuhide. Believing that his deceased father threw his precious Kawazumaru sword into this pond and that he now wants Takumi to recover it, he looks for and finds the sword under floating weeds. Soon after he has picked up the sword Osono approaches Takumi, pretending to be a street girl and tries to rob him of the sword. Takumi resists. As the two struggle for its possession, the sword jumps onto a gourd trellis. They too climb onto the trellis and continue fighting.
At last Takumi makes good his escape, taking the precious sword with him.
- reference source : kabuki21.com/hyotandana -

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Amenooshihomimi - Ame no oshihomimi no mikoto
Other names:
Masakaakatsu kachihayahi ame no oshihomimi no mikoto (Kojiki,Nihongi),
Masakaakatsu kachihayahi ame no oshihone no mikoto(Nihongi)
正勝吾勝勝速日天之忍穂耳命（アメノオシホミミ）/ 正勝吾勝勝速日天忍穂耳命

One of the male kami produced as a result of the trial by pledge (ukei) performed by Amaterasu and Susanoo.
According to both Kojiki and Nihongi, Amaterasu and Susanoo furnished personal items as "seed" (monozane) for the pledge; Amaterasu furnished the "Five-hundred Yasaka jewels" which she wore, and from those were produced five male deities, one of which was Amenooshihomimi.
Oshihomimi was later ordered by Amaterasu and Takagi no kami to descend to the Central Land of Reed Plains, but it was first necessary to pacify the Central Land, and in the interval, Oshihomimi had a son, Ninigi. As a result, following pacification of the land, Ninigi was entrusted with the mission, and he descended in place of Oshihomimi.
- reference source : Nishioka Kazuhiko Kokugakuin 2005-


Masakaakatsukachihayahi Amenooshihomimi no mikoto
Karl Florenz übersetzt mit
„Die [mit dem Rufe:] ‚Wahrlich ich siege!‘ triumphierend sich heftig gebarende allüberwindende große erlauchte Person des Himmels“) ist ein männlicher Kami in der Mythologie des Shintō.
..... Amaterasu erkor Amenooshihomimi zur Herrschaft (shirasu) über das „Land der frischen Ähren der tausend Herbste und langen fünfhundert Herbste des Üppigen Schilfgefildes“
- Read the explanation in German:
. Ninomiya Jinja 二宮神社 Shrine Ninomiya - Kobe .

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- - - - - The three famous Hikosan Sanctuaries in Japan :

英彦山 Hikosan in Fukuoka/Oita
弥彦山（新潟県）Yahikosan in Niigata
雪彦山（兵庫県）Seppikosan in Hyogo

The three famous Shugendo Sanctuaries in Japan :

英彦山 Hikosan in Fukuoka/Oita
羽黒山（山形県） Hagurosan Yamagata
熊野大峰山（奈良県） Kumano Ominesan Nara


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- Reference : 英彦山
- Reference : English


. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja　神社) - Introduction .

. kami　神　Shinto deities - ABC-LIST - .

- #hikosanfukuoka #AmenoOshihomimi -
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英彦山の頂に置く夏帽子
Hikosan no itadaki ni oku natsubooshi

at the top
of Mount Hikosan I place
my summer hat

松尾隆信 Matsuo Takanobu

- reference : Matsuo Takanobu -

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英彦山の露降りてきし机かな
黒田杏子

英彦山の日暮うながす閑古鳥
荒巻信子

彦山や雲はひのぼる葛根ほり
水田正秀

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. Fudō Myō-ō 不動明王 Fudo Myo-O .

英彦山大権現 湯の谷別院 Hikosan Yunotani Betsu-In




source : robounohana.seesaa.net

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Mountain Mandalas - Shugendo in Kyushu
Allan G. Grapard

In Mountain Mandalas Allan G. Grapard provides a thought-provoking history of one aspect of the Japanese Shugendo tradition in Kyushu, by focusing on three cultic systems: Mount Hiko, Usa-Hachiman, and the Kunisaki Peninsula. Grapard draws from a rich range of theorists from the disciplines of geography, history, anthropology, sociology, and humanistic geography and situates the historical terrain of his research within a much larger context.
- - - - - Table of Contents
1. Shugendo and the Production of Social Space
- - - Mount Hiko
2. Geotyped and Chronotyped Social Spaces
- - - Mount Hiko: of swords, meteors, dragons, and goshawks
- - - Waiting for dawn on Mount Hiko: the geotype and chronotype of heterotopia
- - - Mount Hiko's Sacred Perimeter: four corners and three dimensions
3. Festivities and Processions: Spatialities of Power
- - - Mount Hiko as a socio-ritualized space
- - - Mount Hiko's conflicts with Mount Homan and the Shogo-in monzeki
- - - Mount Hiko's ritual calendar
4. Shattered Bodies, Statues, and the Appeal of Truncated Memory
- - - Mount Hiko's quasi-destruction and fall into irrelevance
and more
- source : bloomsbury.com/au/mountain-mandalas -

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. 河童 / かっぱ / カッパ - Kappa, the Water Goblin of Japan! .

There are many legends about the Kappa in Soeda and around Mount Hikosan.



Kappa no wabi shoomon seki カッパの詫び証文石
stone memorial of the Kappa and his apology note

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昔、中元寺は虫生の庄といって、芦がしげる湿地が多くあった。
ある日の夕方のこと、一人の子供のような者が、民家を訪ね「今夜大雨が降って山が抜けるから逃げておくれ」といって回った。
人びとは、おかしなことだなあと思いながらも、避難をした。やがて夜になると、予告どおり大雨で川ははんらんし、猿渡あたりは山崩れが起こった。
これをみた村人は「あの子供は、瀬成の神に仕えているカッパに違いない、よくぞ知らせてくれた」と、カッパをかわいがってやることになった。
そうするとカッパはつけあがり、田畑を荒したり、子供を川に引き込んだりして村人を困らせるようになった。それで瀬成の神様は大変立腹されて、カッパに対し「悪さをするなら出て行け、心を入れかえるなら中元寺におらせるが」としかりつけた。
これにはカッパもこたえて反省し、石に詫び証文を書いて神様に差し出した。それ以後、中元寺の人びとは水難にあうことはなくなった。
カッパの詫び証文石は、瀬成神社参道入口右側のハゼの木の根元に抱きこまれたようになって残っている。
- reference : hikosan.sblo.jp/article -


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. Japanese Legends - 伝説　民話　昔話 – ABC-List .



............................................................................　和歌山県 Wakayama

. Yamanokami and a man named 毛谷村六助 Keyamura Rokusuke .

. Keyamura Rokusuke and a Kappa .




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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -
17 彦山 (0)

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