An Iron Kettle Cast in 1198 at Kumano Hongū Taisha
Kumano Hongū Taisha, the principal shrine of the three great Kumano sanctuaries deep in the mountains of southern Wakayama, keeps an iron kettle that carries a cast inscription dated to 1198. The vessel is used in a purification rite, and it was recognised as an Important Cultural Property in 1983. Among the painted icons and swords that usually fill a shrine's treasury, a plain iron cauldron can look unremarkable. Its date is what sets it apart.
Iron objects with a reliable cast date are scarce from the late twelfth century, and this one ranks among the very oldest. It is, in effect, a fixed point in the history of Japanese iron casting, and it has remained in use for the ritual it was made to serve.
The Yudate Rite
The kettle exists for a ceremony called yudate. Salt water is brought to the boil over a fire, and a shrine maiden or attendant scatters the rising droplets over the people present, cleansing them. The act joins two purifying forces, fire and salt water, in a single gesture. Old pictorial maps of the shrine precinct show the vessel in place, drawn simply as the "hot-water kettle," which tells us the rite and its equipment were a settled part of worship here long ago.
By the shrine's own tradition, the kettle was offered by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the warrior who founded the Kamakura shogunate. The details cannot be confirmed, and the claim is best treated as a tradition rather than a documented fact. What the object itself records, in the metal, is a date: the cast inscription gives a day in the fourth month of Kenkyū 9, corresponding to 1198, a year that falls squarely in the early Kamakura period.
Why the Date Is So Important
Among iron kettles, a securely dated piece is a rarity, and this one stands near the head of the list. The oldest dated iron vessel of the broad bathing-and-heating type is the 1197 example at Tōdai-ji in Nara. The Kumano Hongū kettle, cast a year later, is counted as the second-oldest dated iron vessel of its kind, and as one of the oldest surviving dated kettles of the yudate form in particular. For historians of metalwork, that early, fixed date makes it a yardstick against which undated pieces can be measured.
There is a second rarity. Each of the three Kumano shrines once had a kettle of this sort, but the Hongū vessel is the only one preserved in complete form. Where the others have been lost or damaged, this one survives whole, which is why it carries the national designation. The national database confirms the essentials: a single iron kettle of the Kamakura period, cast in 1198, bearing the dated inscription, recognised as an Important Cultural Property in 1983.
The Kettle and Its Mountains
Kumano Hongū Taisha is the head of a network of Kumano shrines across Japan and a component of the World Heritage site "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range." For centuries the Kumano pilgrimage drew emperors and commoners alike along the forest trails of the Kumano Kodō. The shrine's history is also a history of water: a catastrophic flood in 1889 swept away its original riverside precinct at Ōyunohara, and the main buildings were rebuilt on higher ground nearby, where they stand today. That flood destroyed many of the shrine's older possessions, which makes the survival of a twelfth-century iron kettle all the more striking.
A visitor should not expect to find the kettle on casual display, and should not assume access to it. It is a working ritual object and a fragile early survival, shown to the public only when the shrine chooses to present it. The reward of a visit lies elsewhere: in walking the approach beneath the great cedars, in standing where the Kumano Kodō climbs past the precinct, and in understanding that somewhere in the shrine's keeping is a cauldron that has been heating purifying water since the age of the first shogun. To ask at the shrine about its treasures, rather than to go expecting a fixed exhibit, is the right approach.
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Q&A
- What was the kettle used for?
- For the yudate rite: salt water is boiled and the droplets scattered over participants to purify them. The vessel appears in old maps of the shrine precinct.
- How old is it exactly?
- Its cast inscription dates it to 1198, in the early Kamakura period. That makes it one of the oldest surviving dated iron kettles in Japan.
- Is it really the oldest of its kind?
- The 1197 iron vessel at Tōdai-ji is older. The Kumano Hongū kettle is counted as the second-oldest dated iron vessel of the type, and among the oldest dated yudate kettles specifically.
- Did Minamoto no Yoritomo really give it?
- The shrine tradition says so, but the details are unconfirmed. It is best understood as a tradition. The dated cast inscription, however, is on the kettle itself.
- Can I see it when I visit?
- Not as a regular display. It is a fragile ritual object shown only when the shrine presents it. Enquire at the shrine rather than expecting a fixed exhibit.
Basic Information
| Name | Iron Kettle (Tetsu yugama) |
|---|---|
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (designated 6 June 1983) |
| Category | Craft / metalwork |
| Period | Kamakura period; cast in Kenkyū 9 (1198) |
| Inscription | Cast inscription giving a day in the fourth month of Kenkyū 9 |
| Use | The yudate purification rite |
| Count | One kettle |
| Owner | Kumano Hongū Taisha, Hongū, Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture |
| Access | Not on regular public display; shown at the shrine's discretion. Enquire in advance. |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Iron Kettle
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/201/7243
- Kumano Hongū Taisha, treasures (Kumano Sanzan Council)
- https://www.kumano-sanzan.jp/hongu/houmotsu.html
- Kumano Hongū Taisha (Japanese Wikipedia)
- https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/熊野本宮大社
Last verified: 2026.06.23