Aburahi Shrine

Aburahi Shrine

Aburahi Shrine (油日神社, Aburahi Jinja) in Aburahi, Koka-cho, Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, has five buildings under three Important Cultural Property designations: a main hall raised in 1493, a two-storey gate with two corridors from 1566 and a worship hall of the Momoyama period (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The shrine lies at the foot of Mount Aburahi in the southern Suzuka range and was called Aburahi Daimyojin until the Meiji era. The mountain itself was once revered as the body of the deity, and a small shrine, Take Jinja, still stands on its summit (Aburahi Shrine).

The court chronicle Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku records that the deity of Aburahi was raised to the fifth court rank, lower grade, in the first year of Gangyo (877), so Aburahi Shrine was already established by then.

The Head Shrine of Koka

In the medieval period Aburahi Shrine was backed by the warrior families who rose to power in the district. A donation register of 1495, kept for the building of the main hall, lists some 190 warriors and small temples, most of them from the Soma valley (Aburahi Shrine; text supplied by the Koka City Board of Education).

During the Sengoku period the warrior houses of upper Koka governed the area through kinship leagues and a district-wide league, the Koka gunchu-so. The shrine was their common focus and came to be called the Sosha of Koka, the head shrine of the district.

A Muromachi-period history, the Aburahi Daimyojin Engi, gives a leading part to Prince Shotoku, whom the Koka warriors revered as a god of war.

Buildings on a Single Axis

At Aburahi Shrine the gate stands at the south, with the worship hall and main hall lined up behind it to the north, and a corridor runs out from each side of the gate. The shrine says no other medieval shrine in Shiga Prefecture has corridors attached in this way.

The buildings were designated in three stages: the main hall in 1901, the gate and corridors in 1906 and the worship hall in 1958 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). In 1962 the Shiga Prefectural Board of Education published a report on repair work to all five.

The shrine forest rises behind the main hall, and a Japanese umbrella pine said to be more than 750 years old is honoured as the sacred tree. Each building is described on its own page.

Festivals at Aburahi Shrine

The spring festival of Aburahi Shrine is held on May 1. Every five years it includes the yakko-furi procession, which preserves the old todo duty once taken in turn by the leading Koka families.

On the night of September 11 worshippers keep an all-night fire vigil on the summit of Mount Aburahi, and on the night of September 13 the autumn festival, Omiya-gomori, is held at the shrine itself.

Visiting and Access

Aburahi Shrine is about 30 minutes on foot from Aburahi Station on the JR Kusatsu Line. By car it takes about 20 minutes from the Koka-Tsuchiyama or Konan interchange of the Shin-Meishin Expressway, or about 15 minutes from the Kamitsuge interchange of the Meihan Road. The car park holds 10 cars and 8 coaches (Aburahi Shrine).

On ordinary days the grounds are open and photography is allowed. A few times a year, without advance notice, the shrine is used as a film location; on those days visitors are shown round between takes, may be kept out for several hours and generally cannot take pictures. Groups are asked to telephone ahead with their arrival time and length of stay.

Japan Tourism Agency material asks visitors to take off their shoes before entering the buildings, including the corridors, and not to bring pets other than assistance dogs.

The Koka History and Folklore Museum next to Aburahi Shrine is staffed by the shrine between its other duties and opens by reservation only. Admission is 200 yen for adults.