Minase Shrine

A Shrine on the Site of an Emperor's Riverside Villa

Minase Shrine (水無瀬神宮, Minase Jingū) is a Shinto shrine in Hirose, Shimamoto Town, Mishima District, Osaka Prefecture, that grew out of a memorial hall built in 1240 on the site of Emperor Go-Toba's villa; its Guest Hall and Tea House were designated Important Cultural Properties in 1926, and five more buildings, including the Main Hall, were added to the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2016. The shrine enshrines three emperors: Go-Toba, his son Tsuchimikado, and his son Juntoku.

The grounds sit at the eastern foot of Mount Tennozan, now hemmed in by houses. A short walk away, the Kizu, Uji and Katsura rivers meet to form the Yodo, and the Kyoto prefectural line is close by. The torii at the entrance is modest in size; from the street, the shrine's grove of trees is what you notice first.

From Minase Palace to Minase Shrine

According to the shrine's own history, this was the site of Minase Palace (Minase-dono), a retreat that Go-Toba visited again and again from the capital. Boats on the Yodo linked it to Kyoto, and the emperor is said to have loved the view of the river confluence with low hills pressing in on both banks. He also ordered the compilation of the Shin Kokin Wakashū, one of the great imperial poetry anthologies.

After his defeat in the Jōkyū War of 1221, Go-Toba was exiled to the Oki Islands, where he spent 19 years. Shortly before he died, he sent a written testament, stamped with the red prints of both his palms, to Minase Nobunari and his son Chikanari, who had been keeping watch over the palace, asking them to pray for his soul. Shimamoto Town explains that after his death the father and son enshrined this testament and a portrait of the emperor in court dress in a memorial hall (Mieidō) on the palace site. That hall is the origin of Minase Shrine. Both the testament and the portrait still belong to the shrine and are on deposit at the Kyoto National Museum.

Until the end of the Edo period the emperor was honored here with Buddhist rites. A 2007 bulletin of the Osaka architects' association notes that the hall became a Shinto shrine named Minase-gū in 1873, and took the name Minase Jingū when its official rank was raised in 1939.

Seven Listed Buildings

Seven buildings at Minase Shrine are national cultural properties. Two, the Guest Hall (Kyakuden) and the Tea House, were designated Important Cultural Properties on the same day, April 19, 1926. The other five, the Main Hall, the Worship Hall and Offering Hall, the Treasure House, the Chozusha water pavilion, and the Shinmon Gate and Tsuiji Wall, were registered together on August 1, 2016, under consecutive numbers 27-0642 to 27-0646.

Their dates fall into four layers. The oldest is the Guest Hall from the Momoyama period, traditionally said to be a gift from Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The Main Hall, the Shinmon Gate and Tsuiji Wall, and the Tea House belong to the early Edo period; the Chozusha and the Treasure House to the Taisho era; and the Worship Hall and Offering Hall to 1929. Roughly 350 years separate the oldest and newest buildings on one small plot.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs used two different criteria for the 2016 registrations. The Main Hall and the Worship Hall and Offering Hall were judged to be models of form, while the Treasure House, the Chozusha and the gate were valued for their contribution to the historic landscape. In its note on the Treasure House, the agency describes the grounds as a precinct reorganized in the modern era: an early Edo hall and gate at the core, with the buildings around them filled out between the 1910s and 1929.

The layout runs in a straight line from west to east. The Shinmon Gate stands at the end of the approach; step through it and the Chozusha is on your left, the Worship Hall is straight ahead, and the Main Hall stands behind it, facing west. The Guest Hall is to the left of the Worship Hall, with its garden and the Tea House beyond. The Treasure House stands in the southwest corner, facing north.

Rikyu no Mizu, the Palace Spring

The spring water at Minase Shrine, known as Rikyu no Mizu, was chosen in 1985 for the Environment Agency's list of Japan's 100 finest waters, the only site in Osaka Prefecture to make the list. The tap area is on the left just inside the Shinmon Gate, and water can be drawn from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There is no fixed limit, but anyone who has filled 20 liters must go back to the end of the line.

People with plastic jugs start queuing early in the morning, and the line is part of everyday life at the shrine. Drawing is occasionally suspended for maintenance, such as work on the filtration system; the shrine posts these closures in the news section of its website.

Festivals and Tea

Each of the three enshrined emperors has his own festival day at Minase Shrine: April 4 for Go-Toba, October 14 for Juntoku and November 13 for Tsuchimikado. The annual grand festival is held on December 7. Tea is offered to the deities by the Omotesenke school on October 14, by Mushakojisenke on November 13 and by Urasenke on April 5, so all three Senke houses of the tea ceremony come here once a year.

A monthly tea gathering is held in the Tea House on the second Sunday. Viewing arrangements for the Tea House and details of the gatherings are on its own page.

Getting to Minase Shrine and Visiting Hours

The nearest stations to Minase Shrine are Minase on the Hankyu Kyoto Line and Shimamoto on the JR Kyoto Line, each about a 10-minute walk away. Yamazaki Station on the JR Kyoto Line is about 15 minutes on foot, and the shrine recommends it if you plan to take a taxi. There is free parking, including space for large buses, but groups arriving by bus must book with the shrine office in advance.

The grounds are open 24 hours, and there is no admission charge. Amulets and goshuin stamps are available from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and prayer ceremonies are accepted by appointment from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Since August 2021, pets have not been allowed on the grounds.

Only two buildings can be entered: the Tea House, by reservation, and the Guest Hall, on special occasions. The Main Hall, the Worship Hall and Offering Hall, the Treasure House, the Chozusha, and the Shinmon Gate and Tsuiji Wall are seen from the grounds. The portrait and testament of Go-Toba are not normally on view, but replicas are displayed at the Shimamoto Town History and Culture Museum next to JR Shimamoto Station.