Fuuji Hachimangu

Quick facts

Address

2-30 Uomachi, Tagawa, Fukuoka

Spiritual entities

Emperor Chuai (仲哀天皇) · Empress Jingu (神功皇后) · Hachiman (八幡神)

About this place

Fuuji Hachimangu is in Tagawa, Fukuoka. Anciently it was called Ita no Okami, a land deity where Watatsumi was enshrined. When a storm arose on Empress Jingu’s homeward journey she is said to have sat on the great stone before the shrine and prayed. In 814, during a great drought, the great teacher Dengyo was made to pray to Ita no Okami, rain came and the five grains were abundant. In 817, when the hall was built, the character for wind was added and it was renamed Kaze no Miya. In 1615 Lord Hosokawa fixed it as Ita Tenaga Taisha, and in 1688 Lord Ogasawara bestowed the characters for Fuuji and it was renamed Fuuji Hachimangu. Its deities are Emperor Ojin, Emperor Chuai, Empress Jingu, Watatsumi, Toyotamahime and Tamayorihime. It is revered as guardian of abundant harvests, of the promotion of industry, of the warding off of misfortune and the opening of fortune, and of safety in traffic.

Origin and history

Anciently it was called Ita no Okami, a land deity where Watatsumi was enshrined. When a storm arose on Empress Jingu’s homeward journey she is said to have sat on the great stone before the shrine and prayed.

In 814, during a great drought, the great teacher Dengyo was made to pray to Ita no Okami, rain came and the five grains were abundant. In 817, when the hall was built, the character for wind was added and it was renamed Kaze no Miya.

In 1615 Lord Hosokawa fixed it as Ita Tenaga Taisha, and in 1688 Lord Ogasawara bestowed the characters for Fuuji and it was renamed Fuuji Hachimangu.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A name added to, character by character

  The character for wind was added in 817, Lord Hosokawa fixed it as Ita Tenaga Taisha in 1615, and Lord Ogasawara bestowed the characters for Fuuji in 1688.

  documented history

• Origin

  Dengyo prayed, and rain came

  In 814, during a great drought, the great teacher Dengyo was made to pray to Ita no Okami; rain came and the five grains were abundant.

  folk tradition

• Power spotProtection & SafetyMoney & Prosperity

  From harvests to industry

  It is revered as guardian of abundant harvests, the promotion of industry, the warding off of misfortune and safety in traffic.

  documented history

This shrine’s name was assembled one character at a time. It was Ita no Okami; the building of the hall in 817 added the character for wind, making it Kaze no Miya; in 1615 Lord Hosokawa fixed it as Ita Tenaga Taisha; and in 1688 Lord Ogasawara bestowed the characters that made it Fuuji Hachimangu. Different lords in different centuries each put a hand to the name. Hikosan Jingu in Nara was likewise renamed twice — but there the changes came by imperial decree, and here by a domain lord.

Before any of that, in 814, the great teacher Dengyo appears. In a great drought he was made to pray to Ita no Okami, rain came, and the five grains were abundant — the outcome is written down as well as the prayer. His name also appears at Kamado Shrine in this prefecture and at Katsuragi Hitokotonushi Shrine in Nara.

Lord Hosokawa appears here for the third time on this list. Kokura Gion Yasaka Shrine in Kitakyushu was founded by Hosokawa Tadaoki in 1617, and Shinozaki Hachiman holds a ridge tag of that same year naming him as patron. He fixed this shrine in Tagawa as Ita Tenaga Taisha in 1615. Within two years, one man’s name is left at three shrines.

Empress Jingu prayed here on the way home, too. In Fukuoka on this list, Furougu, Nouso Hachimangu and Shinozaki Hachiman all begin on the homeward journey.

Related guides

• How to visit a shrine or temple in JapanThe country-wide basics: purifying at the water basin, the two-bows-two-claps-one-bow form at shrines, and what temples do instead.
• What a "power spot" actually isA modern Japanese coinage, not a traditional religious category. Where the word came from, what it does and does not claim, and why this site uses it anyway.
• Shrine or temple?A shrine is Shinto and a temple is Buddhist, and you can usually tell at the gate. Why the line is cleaner on paper than on the ground, and what a government order in 1868 has to do with it.
• Omamori, ema, omikuji and goshuinThe four things you are most likely to receive, write, draw or be given at a shrine or temple, what each is actually for, and the one of them people most often get wrong.

Sources

1. 御由緒 — Fuuji Hachimangu (accessed 2026-08-15)