Hakozakigu Shrine

Hakozakigu Shrine and its four Important Cultural Properties

Hakozakigu Shrine (筥崎宮, Hakozaki-gū, also called Hakozaki Shrine or Hakozaki Hachimangu) in Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City, is a Hachiman shrine said to have been moved to this site in 923, and four of its structures were designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan between 1902 and 1955.

The four are the Main Hall, the Worship Hall, the two-storey Tower Gate (romon) and the stone torii at the entrance. The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Ōjin, worshipped as the war god Hachiman, together with his mother Empress Jingū and the sea goddess Tamayorihime. Hakozakigu Shrine describes itself, alongside Usa and Iwashimizu, as one of the three great Hachiman shrines of Japan, and Fukuoka City introduces it the same way.

The name has a story behind it. When Ōjin was born, tradition says, his afterbirth was placed in a box (hako, written 筥) and buried on this cape, and a pine was planted to mark the spot. That tree, the sacred Hakomatsu, still grows beside the Tower Gate, and the cape with the box became Hakozaki. Because the character 筥 was tied to the emperor, the shrine explains, people used the everyday 箱 for the town instead. That is why the district is spelled Hakozaki with 箱 while the shrine keeps 筥.

A short history of Hakozakigu Shrine

Accounts of the founding differ. According to the shrine's own records, in 921 Emperor Daigo, acting on an oracle, granted a calligraphy reading "Tekikoku Kōfuku" (May the enemy nations submit), and in 923 the deity was moved here from the Daibu (Honami) shrine in Chikuzen Province. Fukuoka City likewise dates the founding to the transfer from the Daibu Hachiman shrine in Honami District.

Facing Hakata Bay, Hakozakigu Shrine has always been close to the sea lanes to the continent. Fukuoka City notes that after the decline of the Kōrokan trade, the area became a busy base for foreign trade from the 12th century, and in 1151 officials from the Dazaifu government raided the houses of Song Chinese merchants at Hakozaki. During the Mongol invasion of 1274 the shrine buildings burned, and for their rebuilding the retired Emperor Kameyama dedicated his own copy of the "Tekikoku Kōfuku" inscription. Those four characters later went up over the Tower Gate.

From the mid-16th century to the early 17th century, each new ruler of Chikuzen left a building here. Ōuchi Yoshitaka raised the Main Hall and Worship Hall, Kobayakawa Takakage built the Tower Gate, and Kuroda Nagamasa, the first lord of the Fukuoka domain, set up the stone torii. In 1587 Toyotomi Hideyoshi camped at the shrine after his conquest of Kyushu and held a tea gathering attended by Sen no Rikyū. In the modern era the shrine was raised to an imperial shrine of the middle rank in 1885 and of the highest rank in 1914.

The four designations at Hakozakigu Shrine

Each of the four structures at Hakozakigu Shrine is a separate Important Cultural Property. The Tower Gate came first, designated on April 17, 1902. The Main Hall and Worship Hall followed together on May 27, 1907, and the torii was added on June 22, 1955.

In order of construction, the Main Hall and Worship Hall date from the mid-16th century, the Tower Gate from 1594 and the torii from 1609. Within about sixty years, the Ōuchi, Kobayakawa and Kuroda families each added one of the main buildings as control of Chikuzen changed hands. The member pages go into the dating and the circumstances of each.

There is one more designated object. The stone lantern standing to the right of the Main Hall carries an inscription of 1350 and is an Important Cultural Property in the crafts category. It is said to have been offered by Sen no Rikyū, though Fukuoka City says the details are unclear. According to the shrine, it can be seen only during the Hōjōya festival and the Satsuki grand festival on May 27 and 28. A Mongol anchor stone in the grounds and treasures such as the illustrated history of Hakozaki Hachimangu are designated by Fukuoka Prefecture.

Walking through the grounds of Hakozakigu Shrine

The entrance to Hakozakigu Shrine lies west of the Tower Gate, on Daigaku-dori street. Here stands the stone torii the shrine calls the Ichi-no-Torii, since Hakozakigu counts its torii outward from the Main Hall, so the first gate is the one nearest the sanctuary. Walk under it and up the approach, and the Tower Gate rises ahead, with the Hakomatsu pine inside its red fence to one side.

Behind the Tower Gate, the Worship Hall turns its gable end toward visitors, and the long Main Hall stands behind it. The Worship Hall joins the center of the Main Hall's front in a T shape, so the two read as one building. A long wooden fence encloses the Main Hall.

On ordinary days, worship takes place in front of the Tower Gate. The shrine says visitors can pass through the gate and pray inside only during the New Year period and the Hōjōya festival in September. At other times you see the Worship Hall's gable through the gate and the Main Hall's roof from outside the wooden fence. The shrine points out that from the stone torii you can fit the torii, the Tower Gate and the Main Hall into a single photograph.

Visiting hours and access for Hakozakigu Shrine

The gates of Hakozakigu Shrine open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. The shrine office, where amulets and goshuin stamps are given, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and prayer requests are taken from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. No admission fee is listed for the grounds. Inquiries go to the shrine office at 092-641-7431.

The nearest station is Hakozaki-miyamae on the Fukuoka City Subway Hakozaki Line; from Exit 1 it is about 3 minutes on foot to the Tower Gate. According to the shrine, from JR Hakata Station you take the Airport Line to Nakasu-Kawabata and change to the Hakozaki Line, which takes 20 minutes at the shortest, not counting walking. The same route from Fukuoka Airport takes 25 minutes and from Tenjin 15 minutes. The Nishitetsu bus stop "Hakozaki" is also about 3 minutes from the gate.

Drivers can use the Miyamae parking lot nearest the Tower Gate (about 100 spaces) or the Gaien lot (about 230 spaces). Both charge a fee and are entered from National Route 3; the surrounding streets are no-parking zones. From 11:00 p.m. on December 31 to 8:00 p.m. on January 1, Daigaku-dori in front of the torii becomes pedestrian-only.

Visitors may photograph themselves and their families without asking. Hakozakigu Shrine does not allow photography inside the Main Hall during prayers, drones, live streaming or commercial shoots, and asks that professional photographers and media contact the shrine office in advance.

Two festivals dominate the calendar at Hakozakigu Shrine. At the Tamatori-sai (Tamaseseri) on January 3, men in loincloths wrestle over a wooden ball as they push toward the shrine, and the ball ends up in the hands of a priest waiting at the Tower Gate. During the Hōjōya festival from September 12 to 18, stalls line the approach, and in odd-numbered years a portable-shrine procession goes out on September 12 and returns on September 14. The grounds are crowded then and the Gaien lot is closed, so for an unhurried look at the buildings, pick another day.