Yoshizawa Shinmei Shrine

Soil Carried Home from Ise

Yoshizawa Shinmei Shrine (吉沢神明社, Yoshizawa Shinmeisha) is a Shinto shrine on high ground above the village of Yoshizawa in Yurihonjo City, Akita Prefecture, said to have been founded in 1644; seven of its buildings and gates were entered on the national register in 2004 and 2005, each as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. The shrine is dedicated to Amaterasu, the sun deity enshrined at Ise.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists all seven entries under the plain name Shinmeisha, rendered on this site as Shinmei Shrine: Shinmei Shrine Main Hall, Shinmei Shrine Haiheiden and so on. Thousands of Japanese shrines share that name, so local newspapers and the Yuri Kogen Railway add the village name. Yoshizawa Shinmei Shrine is the form used here for the precinct as a whole.

The founding story begins with a handful of earth. In the second month of 1644, a villager named Satō Saemon-no-jō travelled to the Grand Shrine of Ise as a proxy pilgrim for his community. Deeply moved by what he saw, he brought back a piece of sacred timber and soil from beneath the shrine buildings, and the villagers raised a hall on the hill called Kamibayashi to receive Amaterasu. The account is kept by the Akita Prefectural Association of Shinto Shrines and repeated in Yurihonjo City's own leaflet.

By 1718 the parish had outgrown its hall. A new one was built on land donated from a local family's hillside, and a Buddhist triad from another household was installed alongside the deity. Kami and buddhas shared the shrine until the Meiji era.

Fire destroyed the buildings in 1841. Talks on rebuilding began in 1861, petitions went to the domain's magistrates, and permission came in 1863. The worship hall that stands today is the result. In 1873 the Buddhist images were removed and the shrine was reconstituted as a Shinmeisha. The kuden shrine-cabinet followed in 1883, the joint hall for two subsidiary shrines in the middle Meiji years, the mikoshi hall in 1908, and finally a new Main Hall, together with an offering hall added to the worship hall, in 1915.

Seven Entries, Two Rounds

Registration came in two stages. On 9 June 2004 the Main Hall, the kuden and the Haiheiden were entered (numbers 05-0108 through 05-0110). On 12 July 2005 the joint hall, the mikoshi hall and the two torii gates followed (05-0119 through 05-0122).

Each entry was registered under a stated criterion, and they differ. The Main Hall counts as a model of form, for its faithful handling of Shinmei-zukuri, the plain gabled style of Ise. The kuden and the Haiheiden were judged difficult to reproduce, a comment on the density of craftsmanship in them. The joint hall, the mikoshi hall and the two gates were registered as contributing to the historic landscape: together they make the climb up the hill a coherent experience.

Yurihonjo City describes the shrine as the representative sanctuary of the Yuri district and a valuable reference for modern shrine architecture. The heart of that judgement is the decoration of the Haiheiden. Its carvings are by Ogawa Matsushirō (小川松四郎), and its wall paintings, votive plaques and ceiling panels are by painters in the service of the Honjō domain: Suzuki Baizan (鈴木梅山), Makino Sessen (牧野雪僊) and Tanigawa Tanzan (谷川丹山), all of the Kanō school. Ogawa's name turns up again as carver on the Munafuda ridge tablet of the 1883 kuden, so the same hand is present both at the front of the worship hall and deep inside the sanctuary.

The oldest of the seven is the stone Inari-style torii of 1810. Walking up through the precinct, a visitor passes late Edo decoration, plain Meiji outbuildings and a Taishō main hall in the Ise manner, all on one hillside.

Walking the Precinct

The shrine sits on a rise near the left bank of the Koyoshi River. The approach is a long flight of stone steps climbing out of the village. A short way up stands the stone Inari torii; farther on, after more steps, comes the timber Ryobu torii. The two gates differ in material and in form, and passing under them in turn is part of the design. The shrine office, according to the site plan in the city's leaflet, sits beside the steps partway up.

At the top the Haiheiden faces the approach. Worship hall, offering hall and Main Hall run in a single line, the Main Hall raised on a stone-faced platform at the back. The kuden is housed inside the Main Hall and cannot be seen from outside. The mikoshi hall stands to the front left of the Main Hall, facing the approach, and the joint hall shelters two subsidiary shrines, Kotohira and Akiba. A third small shrine, Miyabi, also stands in the grounds.

The steps run through woodland and grow slippery after rain and in the snow season. Good shoes help.

Visiting and Getting There

The precinct is open to worshippers, and no admission charge appears in any official source. The interiors of the buildings, including the painted worship hall, are normally closed. In December 2020 the shrine held a special viewing for tourists, with local guides explaining the ceiling paintings, according to the Akita Sakigake Shimpo newspaper. Such openings are occasional, so anyone hoping to see inside should contact the shrine in advance (tel. 0184-53-3834).

No official guidance on photography could be found. If you intend to photograph interiors or a ceremony, ask the shrine first. The annual festival is held on 15 April.

By rail, change at Ugo-Honjō Station on the JR Uetsu Line to the Yuri Kogen Railway's Chōkai Sanroku Line and alight at Yoshizawa Station, an unstaffed halt among rice fields. The shrine is about 10 minutes away on foot. The station has no parking, toilets or shop, so it is worth taking care of those at Ugo-Honjō, and checking the timetable for the return train before setting out.

By car, aim for the registered address, 42 Kamibayashi, Yoshizawa. No official information on dedicated parking could be confirmed. The Association of Shinto Shrines and the railway give the plot number as 41 rather than 42, one digit off the national register.