Myokyoji Enbiki Tennosha Shrine

A god who draws good connections

The Myokyoji Enbiki Tennosha Shrine (妙教寺縁引天王社, Myōkyō-ji Enbiki Tennōsha) is a one-bay shrine of 1888 east of the Reioden's inner sanctuary, immediately north of the Yoshimasa Tennosha, at Saijo Inari Myokyoji in Takamatsu Inari, Kita Ward, Okayama City; it was moved in 1979 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2009/01/08. It is one of the Seventy-Seven Subsidiary Shrines.

Enbiki means "drawing in a connection". The temple says that Enbiki Tenno has been worshipped since the Edo period as a god who brings good relationships of every kind, at work and in study as well as in love. It promotes a corner it calls the En no Massha, with Enbiki Tenno for making good ties and Ribetsu Tenno for cutting bad ones, and recommends praying at both. Whether that corner's shrine is the same building as the registered Myokyoji Enbiki Tennosha Shrine east of the Reioden cannot be confirmed from the temple's website.

A shrine without carving

It is a one-bay shrine with a nagare-style roof of cypress bark and a building area of 1.4 square metres. On a cut-stone footing sits a rounded stone base, a kamebara or "turtle belly", and on that rest the timber sills.

Round columns are tied by tie beams at three levels and a plate, the brackets are simple three-part sets, and the eaves have a single layer of closely spaced rafters: the standard frame of the subsidiary shrines.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Myokyoji Enbiki Tennosha Shrine as one of the subsidiary shrines going back to the Meiji era, small, uncarved and plain. Built two years after the Reioden's worship hall and front hall of 1886, it belongs to the oldest generation of the shrines.

What to look for, and visiting

The Myokyoji Enbiki Tennosha Shrine stands among the shrines east of the Reioden's inner sanctuary, just north of the Yoshimasa Tennosha. It can be seen at any time, free of charge; the interior is not open.

Crouch to see how the rounded stone base meets the sills and columns. If you have come to pray for a good relationship, check the temple's instructions for the En no Massha, where you buy a votive plaque and pray first to Ribetsu Tenno and then to Enbiki Tenno. On the seventh of each month except January a priest guides visitors through the ritual. Opening hours and directions are on the Saijo Inari Myokyoji page.