Yahiko Shrine

The first shrine of Echigo, at the foot of Mount Yahiko

Yahiko Shrine (彌彦神社, Yahiko Jinja) in Yahiko, Yahiko Village, Niigata Prefecture, is the ichinomiya, or premier shrine, of old Echigo Province; rebuilt in 1916 after a fire in 1912, its main hall and 24 other structures were listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998. The deity is Iyahiko no Ōkami, identified with Ame-no-Kaguyama no Mikoto, and locals still call the shrine Oyahiko-sama. The shrine notes that the name was historically read Iyahiko and is now pronounced Yahiko; the Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the reading Iyahiko Jinja.

According to shrine tradition, Ame-no-Kaguyama no Mikoto opened up the land of Koshi, died and was buried on Mount Yahiko, and his son Ame-no-Itsutane no Mikoto began worship at his tomb. The shrine first appears in the national histories in the Shoku Nihon Kōki, under the year 833, as the deity of Iyahiko in Kanbara District. Two poems in Book 16 of the Man'yōshū invoke Iyahiko, and the Engishiki register of 905 lists it as the only shrine of the highest rank in Echigo.

The shrine records land grants from Minamoto no Yoritomo, repairs by the Uesugi family and confirmations of its estates by the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1871 it was ranked as a kokuhei chūsha, a national shrine of the middle grade.

The fire of 1912 and the rebuilding of 1916

On 11 March 1912, a fire that broke out in the town at the shrine gates spread into the precinct and destroyed the main hall and the buildings around it. The new shrine, completed in 1916, was described by the shrine as twice as solemn and grand as the old. One page of the shrine website pairs the Taishō 5 date with the Western year 1915, but Taishō 5 corresponds to 1916, which is also the year given by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

The Agency's records name Itō Chūta of Tokyo Imperial University and Kiriyama Heitarō as designers, with Okumoto Goichi supervising the works; the ornamental metal fittings were designed by a team from the Meiji Shrine construction bureau, among them Ōe Shintarō. Yahiko Village adds that the work was entrusted to Niigata Prefecture and built under its direct management. The buildings were moved to a new site so that they stand with Mount Yahiko directly behind them.

The site of the old main hall lies just behind the sacred tree, and the Tama-no-hashi bridge, which once stood in front of the worship hall, now spans the Mitarashi stream upstream of the stone bridge. These are the clues to the layout before the fire.

How the grounds are laid out

The approach ends at the vermilion First Torii Gate, the entrance to the precinct, with the shrine name pillar to its right and a notice board stand to its left. Just inside, a stone bridge crosses the Mitarashi stream, and the Tama-no-hashi bridge is visible upstream. Further on, the Ema Hall stands a little back from the path, and beyond it the ablution pavilion faces the talisman office.

At the ablution pavilion the path turns left and climbs to the stone Second Torii Gate. Before the gate, on a rise to the right, are the sacred tree and its stone fence. Past the gate, a turn at the sacred horse stable leads to the Saikan, the former lodge for imperial envoys. Beyond the Second Torii Gate, the dance hall, the musicians' hall and the Sanshuden assembly hall line the right side of the path, with the row of subsidiary shrines on the terrace above.

Through the Zuishinmon gate you reach the front of the worship hall. Behind it, the food offering hall stands on the left and the Shikojo attendants' hall on the right, and the sequence continues through the norito hall, the offering hall and a stone corridor to the main hall inside its mizugaki fence, set against the mountain. Near the Zuishinmon stands the drum tower, whose drum still sounds the hours.

The 25 registered properties

On 1998/09/02, 25 properties were registered: the main hall, offering hall, norito hall, worship hall, food offering hall, mizugaki fence and rear gate, Shikojo, the Otoko, Imayama and Kusanagi subsidiary shrines, First Torii Gate, stone corridor, dance hall, musicians' hall, Sanshuden, Second Torii Gate, ablution pavilion, Saikan, drum tower, Ema Hall, notice board stand, talisman office, sacred tree stone fence, stone bridge and komainu guardian dogs. Their registration numbers run from 15-0003 to 15-0027. According to Yahiko Village, they were the second Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in Niigata Prefecture.

All were registered under the criterion of serving as models of their type, and all 25 are dated to 1916. Few shrines keep a precinct designed as a whole by a modern architect so completely, down to its torii, bridge, stone fence and guardian dogs.

Other buildings in the grounds, such as the Tobashira subsidiary shrine, whose hall dates from the Genroku era, are protected under a separate national system. The Zuishinmon gate (1940) and the giant torii on the approach (1982) are not part of the registration.

Visiting

The grounds are free to enter for worship. Formal prayers inside the worship hall are booked at the prayer reception to the right of the hall from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; individuals need no reservation, and the ceremony takes 20 to 30 minutes. Photography and recording inside the worship hall are not permitted. Amulets, talismans and goshuin stamps are issued at the shrine office counter from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The main hall, offering hall, norito hall and the other buildings behind the worship hall are seen only from outside. The treasure hall is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., closed on Mondays (or the following day after a public holiday) and through January and February; admission is 300 yen for adults, 200 yen for high school and university students and 100 yen for younger pupils.

Festivals and kagura

The shrine holds more than 400 rites a year. The liveliest is the Tōrō Shinji lantern festival on the night of 25 July, when two portable shrines, child dancers and priests escort great lanterns decked with paper flowers through the village. The full programme of 13 pieces of the shrine's bugaku-style kagura is performed in the dance hall on 18 April at the festival of Tsumado no Ōkami, and one or two pieces are offered on Saturdays in spring and autumn.

The great drum in the drum tower is beaten 3 times a day: at 5:00 a.m. (6:00 a.m. from November to March), at noon and at 10:00 p.m. A chrysanthemum festival runs from 1 to 24 November.

Getting there

The nearest station is Yahiko, the terminus of the JR Yahiko Line, about 15 minutes on foot from the shrine. Change to the Yahiko Line at Tsubame-Sanjō on the Jōetsu Shinkansen, or at Higashi-Sanjō on the Shin'etsu Line or Yoshida on the Echigo Line. A taxi from Tsubame-Sanjō takes about 30 minutes.

By car, allow about 30 minutes from the Sanjō-Tsubame or Maki-Katahigashi interchanges of the Hokuriku Expressway. Parking around the shrine is free: the lot beside the shrine (20 coaches and 50 cars) and the village's No. 1 car park (345 cars and more) are each about 5 minutes on foot from the worship hall. Some spaces are charged during the chrysanthemum festival. The shrine office can be reached on 0256-94-2001.