Hachiman (八幡神)
Identified with Emperor Ōjin, and among the most widely enshrined deities in Japan.
Hachiman is identified with Emperor Ōjin, and shrines to him number among the most numerous in Japan, spreading from Usa in Kyushu and from Iwashimizu near Kyoto. He became strongly associated with warrior houses, the Minamoto above all, which is why so many Hachiman shrines were founded on the way to or in thanks for a campaign. Imado Shrine in Tokyo, founded in that way in 1063, makes a point of qualifying the martial reading: it says Hachiman devotion is generally taken to concern fortune in war, but that the underlying vow is the great love of a mother holding and raising her child.
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Places in this collection
ShrineImado Shrine
- Love & Romance
- Bonds & Matchmaking
An Asakusa shrine founded in 1063 that calls itself a shrine of bond-tying, and which has run its own matchmaking gatherings since 2008.
ShrineAna Hachimangu
- Fertility & Children
- Money & Prosperity
- Skill & Mastery
A Waseda shrine named for a cave found in its hillside in 1641, which gives out an amulet for the circulation of money for six weeks each winter and nothing the rest of the year.
ShrineHatonomori Hachiman Shrine
- Skill & Mastery
A Sendagaya shrine named after a flight of white doves, holding a Fuji mound raised in 1789 and a small hexagonal hall built with the Japan Shogi Association.
ShrineOmiya Hachimangu
- Fertility & Children
- Protection & Safety
- Bonds & Matchmaking
A large wooded shrine in Suginami, founded in 1063 by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi after he read a bank of white cloud as the banners of his own clan, and known for child-rearing and warding.