Hakozakigu

Shrine · Fukuoka

First Shrine of Chikuzen

Researched and translated with AI assistance. Every claim is linked to its source, but errors get through, so check the official site for opening times, fees and closures.About

In short

A Hachiman shrine built in 921 after Emperor Daigo, by divine instruction, handed down a piece of imperial calligraphy that the shrine still keeps as its first treasure.

A torii of Hakozakigu in Fukuoka. — そらみみ / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Quick facts

Address: 1-22-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka
Spiritual entities: Empress Jingu (神功皇后) · Hachiman (八幡神)

About this place

Hakozakigu is in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka. Its deities are Emperor Ojin, the Hachiman deity; Empress Jingu, Emperor Ojin’s mother; and Tamayorihime, a deity of the sea and the mother of Emperor Jimmu. According to old records, in 921, in the middle of the Heian period, Emperor Daigo by divine instruction handed down calligraphy in his own hand reading “subjugation of the enemy country”, had a magnificent shrine hall built on this ground, and in 923 the deity was transferred here from Chikuzen Daibu-gu. That imperial calligraphy is the first of the treasures preserved at this shrine, written brilliantly in gold on dark blue paper. The record of Retired Emperor Kameyama presenting it at the rebuilding of the halls after the Mongol invasions is said to be especially well known. Prayers offered here include safe childbirth, first shrine visits, the seven-five-three, warding off misfortune, prayers for victory, prosperity in business, success in examinations and safety in traffic. The Hojoya festival, held from the twelfth to the eighteenth of September, is one of the three great festivals of Hakata.

Origin and history

The deities are Emperor Ojin, the Hachiman deity; Empress Jingu, Emperor Ojin’s mother; and Tamayorihime, a deity of the sea and the mother of Emperor Jimmu.

According to old records, in 921 Emperor Daigo by divine instruction handed down calligraphy in his own hand reading “subjugation of the enemy country”, had a magnificent shrine hall built on this ground, and in 923 the deity was transferred here from Chikuzen Daibu-gu.

That imperial calligraphy is the first of the treasures preserved at this shrine, written brilliantly in gold on dark blue paper. The record of Retired Emperor Kameyama presenting it at the rebuilding of the halls after the Mongol invasions is said to be especially well known.

What it is locally associated with

Origin
From a piece of imperial calligraphy
In 921 Emperor Daigo by divine instruction handed down calligraphy reading “subjugation of the enemy country” and had a hall built; the transfer followed in 923.
documented history
Power spot
The first treasure is writing
That imperial calligraphy is the first of the shrine’s treasures, written brilliantly in gold on dark blue paper.
documented history
Power spotProtection & SafetyMoney & ProsperityExams & StudyFertility & Children
From childbirth to business
Prayers here include safe childbirth, first visits, the seven-five-three, warding off misfortune, victory, prosperity in business, examinations and traffic safety.
documented history

The first treasure of this shrine is neither a building nor an image but four written characters. The imperial calligraphy reading “subjugation of the enemy country” is the first of the treasures preserved here, written brilliantly in gold on dark blue paper. What the shrine names before anything else is a phrase aimed outward.

The man who handed it down was Emperor Daigo. His name appears in Nara on this list too: Chogosonshi-ji was granted its imperial name by Emperor Daigo after he recovered from grave illness by Bishamonten’s protection. One sovereign stands behind the raising of a hall in Kyushu and the naming of a temple in Yamato.

Among the three enshrined here are two mothers. Empress Jingu is given as Emperor Ojin’s mother, and Tamayorihime as Emperor Jimmu’s. Sumiyoshi Taisha, Ikasuri Shrine and Mozu Hachimangu on this list also transmit Empress Jingu, and Kyushu is the setting of that story.

The prayers run from safe childbirth through the seven-five-three, warding off misfortune, victory, prosperity in business, success in examinations and safety in traffic. The Hojoya festival, from the twelfth to the eighteenth of September, is one of the three great festivals of Hakata.

Claims and evidence levels 2

Old records give 921 for Emperor Daigo handing down the “subjugation of the enemy country” calligraphy and building the hall, and 923 for the transfer from Chikuzen Daibu-gu. documented history
That calligraphy is the first of the treasures preserved at the shrine, written in gold on dark blue paper. documented history

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.