Munakata Taisha Hetsumiya

Munakata Taisha Hetsumiya

Munakata Taisha Hetsumiya (宗像大社辺津宮, also written Hetsu-miya or Hetsu-gū) in Tajima, Munakata City, Fukuoka Prefecture, is the mainland sanctuary of Munakata Taisha, and its main hall of 1578 and worship hall of 1590 were designated Important Cultural Properties in 1907.

Munakata Taisha is not one building but three: Okitsumiya on the island of Okinoshima far out in the Genkai Sea, Nakatsumiya on the island of Oshima, and Hetsumiya on the Kyushu mainland (Munakata Taisha). Hetsumiya enshrines Ichikishimahime, youngest of the three Munakata goddesses, and Fukuoka Prefecture describes it as the head shrine of the three.

In July 2017 Hetsumiya became one of the components of the World Heritage site "Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region" (Fukuoka Prefecture). The grounds around the halls lie within the national Historic Site of the Munakata Shrine precinct (Munakata City).

The Goddesses and the Island

Shrine tradition holds that the three goddesses, Tagorihime, Tagitsuhime and Ichikishimahime, were born from a pledge between the sun goddess Amaterasu and her brother Susanoo. The Nihon Shoki of 720 records a divine command that they would be worshipped by the emperors in return for guarding them.

The Munakata clan who ruled this coast handled the Yamato court's dealings across the sea, and after the Taika Reform of 645 Munakata became the only divine district in Kyushu, a territory whose revenue was set aside for the shrine (Munakata Taisha). On Okinoshima, state rites for safe passage were performed from the 4th to the 9th century, and the roughly 80,000 offerings recovered there are now kept in the Shinpokan museum at Hetsumiya (Fukuoka Prefecture; Munakata Taisha).

The two halls date from the end of that long story. The main hall was rebuilt after a fire in 1578 by the chief priest Munakata Ujisada; the worship hall followed in 1590 under Kobayakawa Takakage, the warlord who governed Chikuzen for a time (Fukuoka Prefecture). Between the two dates, control of Munakata passed from the priestly house to a daimyo serving the Toyotomi regime.

Finding Your Way Around

The Japan Tourism Agency's interpretive text sets out the route: through the torii and along the approach, a pause at the water basin, then through the gate bearing the imperial chrysanthemum crest. The first building straight ahead is the worship hall, with the main hall rising behind it.

A path to the right of the main hall climbs to the Takamiya ritual site, where Ichikishimahime is said to have come down to earth. It has no building at all, only a cleared ground in the trees, and from it the sea road to Okinoshima opens to the northwest (Munakata Taisha; Japan Tourism Agency). Below it stand Teini-gu and Teisan-gu, the shrines of Tagorihime and Tagitsuhime, built from old halls of Ise Jingu and moved here in 1978 (Munakata Taisha; Fukuoka Prefecture).

Twenty-four auxiliary shrines housing 121 deities cluster around the main hall (Munakata Taisha); according to the Japan Tourism Agency text they were gathered here from across the Munakata area in 1675. The Shinpokan treasure museum, home to the Okinoshima finds, stands to the left of the main hall.

The Two Important Cultural Properties

Two buildings at Hetsumiya are protected, and each was designated an Important Cultural Property on May 27, 1907 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Each has its own page describing its structure and what to look for.

• Munakata Shrine Hetsumiya Main Hall: 1578, five bays wide in the Nagare-zukuri style, roofed with kokera shingles, with 9 Munafuda ridge tags designated alongside it
• Munakata Shrine Hetsumiya Worship Hall: 1590, gabled and entered at the gable end, also roofed with kokera shingles, with 1 ridge tag designated alongside it

The designation records use the older name Munakata Shrine rather than Munakata Taisha, reflecting the shrine's name at the time.

Visiting

From the north exit of JR Togo Station on the Kagoshima Main Line, Nishitetsu buses bound for Konominato Hatoba via Munakata Taisha reach the Munakata Taisha-mae stop, right at the shrine, in about 12 minutes. By car it is about 12 minutes from JR Akama Station, and about 35 minutes from either the Wakamiya or the Koga interchange of the Kyushu Expressway. Parking lots 1 to 3 hold about 1,000 cars free of charge (Fukuoka Prefecture Tourist Association).

The official website gives no opening hours for the grounds themselves. The Shinpokan is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (last entry 4 p.m.) every day of the year; admission is 800 yen for adults, 500 yen for high school and university students and 400 yen for elementary and junior high school students (Munakata Taisha). Prayers are booked at the Kiganden prayer hall outside the gate, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Munakata Taisha).

The autumn grand festival opens on October 1 with the Miare Matsuri, when a fleet of boats carries the goddesses' palanquins from Oshima to Konominato; on the night of October 3 the Yukyu-mai kagura dance is offered at the Takamiya ritual site (Munakata Taisha; Fukuoka Prefecture).