Itsukushima Shrine

▶National Treasure / Important Cultural Properties
It is said that the shrine was founded by Saeki no Kuramoto in the first year of Empress Suiko’s reign (593).
There are various theories, but from the meaning “a deity enshrined on an island of worship,” it was called “Itsukishima Shrine” and other names, and is now known as “Itsukushima Shrine.”
As a remnant of primitive religion, the entire island was revered as a sacred island, so the shrine was built in the tidal zone, where it would not be presumptuous to place it on land.
When Taira no Kiyomori was appointed Governor of Aki Province in 1146, he revered the shrine as the guardian deity of the Taira clan, and as the power of the Taira family grew, his devotion deepened and he built the shrine buildings into their present form.
Because imperial family members and nobles from the capital, including Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, Kenshunmon’in, Empress Tokuko, and Retired Emperor Takakura, visited the shrine, the culture and architecture of the capital came to Miyajima.
The bugaku dance still handed down at Itsukushima Shrine was transferred from Shitennoji Temple in Osaka by Kiyomori.
Although the shrine buildings have been rebuilt several times due to disasters, they are said to preserve the appearance they had when built by Kiyomori.
There are about 260 designated structures and works of art, including 17 buildings and 3 shrines designated as National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, as well as 55 works of fine art and crafts. The east corridor is 45 ken long and the west corridor 62 ken. In addition to the main shrine, the complex consists of Marodo Shrine, Asazaya, Haraiden, Takabutai, Hirabutai, Migi-Marodo Shrine, Hitasaki, Daikoku Shrine, Tenjin Shrine, Noh Stage, Soribashi, Nagabashi, Agemizubashi, and Naishibashi.
The east corridor entrance has a gabled roof, while the west corridor entrance has a karahafu roof. The corridor is about 4 meters wide and 260 meters long, with pillars spaced about 2.4 meters apart, and eight floorboards laid in each bay. The gaps between the floorboards reduce the pressure of seawater pushed up from beneath during high tide and also allow seawater that has entered the corridor to drain away.
At present, protective boards are laid over the floorboards, so visitors may walk on them with their shoes on because they are laid over the original floorboards, which are part of the National Treasure.

▶Corridor [National Treasure]
The east corridor has 47 ken, with a gabled entrance, a cypress bark roof, and ridge tiles on the ridge.
The west corridor has 61 ken, and its western end (exit) has a karahafu-style entrance.
This suggests that in the past the west side was the entrance. Together the east and west corridors extend about 260 meters, and hanging lanterns are suspended at each bay.
Eight boards are laid in each bay of the floor, and no nails are used. The boards are slightly separated, creating a slit structure that reduces wave energy and helps protect the building during high tides and typhoons.
No nails are used in these floorboards. The floor is double-layered; the original floorboards are underneath, while the boards laid on top are protective boards, allowing worshippers to walk with shoes on. This was done in recent years; in former times, visitors removed their footwear before ascending.
The hanging lanterns in the corridor are said to have originated with cast-iron lanterns donated by the Mori clan. The present lanterns were dedicated in the Taisho period and are made of bronze.

▶Marodo Shrine [National Treasure: Heian period]
Like the main shrine, it consists of a main hall, offering hall, worship hall, and purification hall, and the rituals of Itsukushima Shrine begin at this Marodo Shrine.
The five male deities enshrined here are Amenoshihomimi no Mikoto, Ikutsuhikone no Mikoto, Ame no Hohi no Mikoto, Amatsuhikone no Mikoto, and Kumano Kusubi no Mikoto. It is the largest of the subsidiary shrines, and during Itsukushima Shrine’s ceremonies, the priests visit here first.
Amenoshihomimi no Mikoto is the eldest son of Amaterasu Omikami and a deity of agriculture. Ame no Hohi no Mikoto is the child of Amaterasu Omikami and a deity of agriculture. Amatsuhikone no Mikoto is revered as a deity of the sun, rain, wind, and protection from fire.
The fact that the wavebreaker boards on the seaward front of the Haraiden are cut open is said to be a remnant of an entrance used to descend below.

▶Mirror Pond [One of the Eight Scenic Views of Itsukushima]
It is located in the sea beneath the east corridor of the shrine buildings. When the tide goes out, a round pond appears.
*The Eight Scenic Views of Itsukushima: In 1715, by the proposal of the monk Joshin of Komyo-in, eight scenic spots of Itsukushima were selected.

▶Asazaya [Important Cultural Property]
The roof is gabled on the east side and hipped on the west, and has eaves on three sides, showing features of the paired buildings in shinden-zukuri style. In the past, it was the place where shrine families, priestly attendants, and court ladies gathered for ceremonies and meetings.

▶Masugata
The area enclosed by the Marodo Shrine Haraiden and the corridor is called Masugata. During the “Kangen Festival,” held every year on the 17th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the ceremonial boat and the tugboats from Aga and Eba circle here three times.
Many guests line the corridor, and this is where the festival reaches its climax.

▶Agemizubashi [Important Cultural Property]
Its distinctive feature is a central protruding section called “sakanoma.” It is said that rituals were once performed here to draw up seawater.

▶Sotoba Stone
Below Agemizubashi is Mirror Pond, and the stone in it is called Sotoba Stone.
About 800 years ago, Hira Yasuyori, who was exiled to Kikaigashima along with the monk Shunkan and Fujiwara no Naritsune for plotting the downfall of the Taira clan at Shishigatani in Kyoto, wrote two poems on a thousand sotoba memorial tablets in memory of his elderly mother in Kyoto and cast them into the sea. One of them drifted to this stone.
“Though I think of this as only a brief journey, my homeland is still dear to me.”
“Tell even my parents that I am on a small island off Satsuma’s coast, in the midst of the many tidal winds.”
According to the Tale of the Heike, a monk who happened to be visiting Itsukushima Shrine conveyed this story to the capital, and soon Yasuyori was granted permission to return to Kyoto.

▶Yasuyori Lantern
This lantern was dedicated by Hira Yasuyori, who was allowed to return to Kyoto, in thanks to the Great Deity of Itsukushima. It is the oldest object on Miyajima.

▶Naishibashi [National Treasure]
The shrine maidens who served at Itsukushima Shrine were called naishi. It is said that in former times, the naishi crossed this bridge to offer sacred food, which is why it was called Naishibashi. There is one on each side leading to the main shrine’s worship hall.

▶Main Shrine / Worship Hall / Purification Hall
The main shrine is designated as a National Treasure, and the enshrined deities are the three Munakata goddesses: Ichikishima-hime no Mikoto, Tagori-hime no Mikoto, and Tagitsu-hime no Mikoto. In addition to the three goddesses, the main sanctuary also enshrines 30 other deities.
Its size is 8 ken across the front, 9 ken across the back, and 4 ken in depth, and its floor area is said to be twice that of Izumo Taisha. The three goddesses are worshipped as deities of the sea, transportation and logistics, wealth and prosperity, and the arts. Taira no Kiyomori subdued pirates in the Seto Inland Sea, dominated shipping operators, amassed enormous wealth through trade with Song China, and rose rapidly in rank. He deeply revered Itsukushima, which was a key point on the Seto Inland Sea route, to pray for the safety of ships traveling between the Seto Inland Sea and Song China.
Until the Meiji Restoration, Itsukushima Benzaiten was also enshrined here, but due to the separation of Shinto and Buddhism, she is now enshrined at Daiganji Temple.
The heiden is the facility where offerings to the deities are placed.
The worship hall is the place where worshippers face the enshrined deities and perform purification and prayer. When viewed from beneath the worship hall, two ridgelines can be seen, covered by a single roof ridge above; this is called “sanmune-zukuri,” and is said to be an architectural style from the Nara period. The distance from the Great Torii is said to be 108 ken (about 196 meters).
The purification hall is where purification rites are performed; during the Kangen Festival, the hosen (portable shrine) is placed here, and it is also used for bugaku performances in rainy weather.
Also, until around 1941, before rice prices were controlled, the rice market was held here in February.
The floorboards were replaced in the Meiji period with boards from the domain ship Itsukushima-maru of the Asano domain, made from camphor wood.

▶Takabutai [National Treasure: Heian period]
This is the stage where bugaku is performed.
Bugaku is a dance accompanied by music, and more than a dozen pieces, including Ryoo, Furi Hoko, Banzairaku, Enkiraku, Taiheiraku, and Battou, are still performed at Itsukushima Shrine. It is known that in 1546, Tanamori Saeki Fusaaki dedicated the gable ornaments of the Takabutai.
Together with the stone stages of Shitennoji and Sumiyoshi Taisha, the Takabutai is said to be one of Japan’s three great stages.

▶Hirabutai [National Treasure]
The flat area opposite the Takabutai is called the Hirabutai.
In shinden-zukuri terms, it corresponds to the garden, and the foundation stones are said to be Akama stone donated by Mori Motonari.

▶Migi-Marodo Shrine / Hida-Marodo Shrine [National Treasure]
Located on the right and left sides of Hitasaki, they enshrine Toyoiwamado no Kami and Kushiiwamado no Kami.
They were heavily damaged along with the Noh stage, Takabutai, and Hirabutai by Typhoon No. 19 in 1991 and Typhoon No. 18 in 2004.

▶Ugakubo / Sagakubo [National Treasure]
These are national treasures and are the places where music is performed during bugaku. There are right and left pavilions, reflecting the two traditions of bugaku: the left dance, transmitted from India and Tang China, is performed in the left pavilion, while the right dance, transmitted from Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, is performed in the right pavilion.
Bugaku was brought from Shitennoji Temple by Taira no Kiyomori about 820 years ago, and can be seen at Itsukushima Shrine.

▶Daikoku Shrine [Ookuni Shrine]
Common name: Daikoku-san
Enshrined deity: Ōkuninushi no Mikoto
Ōkuninushi no Mikoto is a deity of nation-building, agriculture, commerce, medicine, and matchmaking.
Since Ōkuninushi no Mikoto is married to Tagori-hime no Mikoto, he is said to be enshrined close to the main shrine.
On the right side of the raised worship hall was formerly a temporary place for sacred offerings; offerings brought from the shrine storehouse behind the main shrine were placed here, and from here the shrine maidens carried them onward to be offered at the main sanctuary.

▶Tenjin Shrine [Important Cultural Property: enshrined deity is Sugawara no Michizane]
A deity of scholarship.
It was founded through a donation by Mori Takamoto in 1556.
Like the Noh stage, it is unfinished wood and unpainted vermilion, because among the shrine buildings it is relatively new and thus of a later period.
In the past it was called the Renga-do, and until the beginning of the Meiji period, linked-verse gatherings were held here every month.

▶Nagabashi [Important Cultural Property: Momoyama period]
Length: 33 m; width: 3 m; bridge piers of Akama stone
It was used when sacred offerings were carried from the shrine storehouse behind the main shrine. The foundation stones are Akama stone, and the bridge was dedicated by the Mori clan.
Matsuura Takeshiro, a Meiji-era explorer (1818–1888), was deeply devoted to the worship of Tenjin; he visited 25 Tenjin shrines nationwide and dedicated a stone monument and mirror inscribed “Seiseki 25hai.”
At Itsukushima Shrine, there is a stone monument dedicated in 1884 on the landward side of Nagabashi. Matsuura Takeshiro was the man who named Hokkaido.

▶Soribashi [Important Cultural Property]
Also known as Chokushibashi or Taikobashi
Length: about 24 m, width: 4 m; railings painted vermilion, bridge piers painted black
Although it already existed in the Kamakura period, the current bridge was rebuilt in 1557 by Mori Motonari and his son Takamoto.
Also called Chokushibashi, only imperial envoys (chokushi) were permitted to cross it.
It is believed that people crossed it via stairs in the center.

▶Noh Stage [Important Cultural Property: gabled roof, cypress bark roof]
In 1568, the Mori clan invited Kanshō Dayū, set up a temporary Noh stage in the sea, and dedicated Noh performances. The present building was renovated in 1680 by Asano Tsunaaga, lord of Hiroshima domain; like Tenjin Shrine, it is from a later period and therefore not painted vermilion.
Its distinctive features are that it is the only stage in Japan built in the sea, it has a gabled roof, and the flute pillar stands independently.
Because it is in the sea, it does not have the earthen jars usually placed beneath the floor to create resonance. Instead, the floor joists beneath are triangular, and floorboards are laid over them to enhance the sound.
Every year, for three days from April 16, the Momoka-sai Shin-noh is held; on the first and second days, Okina is performed first, and all three days feature five programs with kyogen interludes, allowing visitors to enjoy formal performances preserved since the Edo period.
It collapsed in Typhoon No. 19 in 1991, but was rebuilt in 1994 using as much original timber as possible.