Kashiigu

Quick facts

Address

4-16-1 Kashii, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka

Spiritual entities

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

About this place

Kashiigu is in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka. Its origin is that in the ninth year of Emperor Chuai, 200, Empress Jingu built a shrine with her own hands and enshrined there the spirit of Emperor Chuai. The hall for Empress Jingu was begun in 723, under Emperor Gensho, on an oracle given to the empress herself, when the court issued a decree to Kyushu to begin building, and it was completed in 724 under Emperor Shomu; the two halls together were called Kashii-byo. The principal deities are Emperor Chuai, deity of peace in the state, peace in the world and the flourishing of a household, and Empress Jingu, deity of diplomacy, of the granting of children, of safe birth and the raising of children, of progress in the performing arts, and of engineering and flood control. Enshrined alongside are Emperor Ojin, deity of the prospering of the state, of warding off misfortune and opening fortune, of long martial fortune and of success and victory, and the Sumiyoshi deity, of purification, of dispelling calamity and drawing blessing, of safety at sea and safety in traffic. The benefits given are safe birth, the granting of children, safety in traffic and at sea, warding off misfortune, success and victory, peace in the state and peace in the world.

Origin and history

The origin of Kashiigu is that in the ninth year of Emperor Chuai, 200, Empress Jingu built a shrine with her own hands and enshrined there the spirit of Emperor Chuai.

The hall for Empress Jingu was begun in 723 on an oracle given to the empress herself, when the court issued a decree to Kyushu to begin building, and it was completed in 724; the two halls together were called Kashii-byo.

The principal deities are Emperor Chuai and Empress Jingu, with Emperor Ojin and the Sumiyoshi deity enshrined alongside.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A shrine the empress built herself

  In the ninth year of Emperor Chuai, 200, Empress Jingu built a shrine with her own hands and enshrined the spirit of Emperor Chuai.

  folk tradition

• Origin

  A hall raised on her own oracle

  Building began in 723 on an oracle given to the empress herself and was completed in 724; the two halls together were called Kashii-byo.

  documented history

• Power spotFertility & ChildrenProtection & SafetyFamily & HomeSkill & Mastery

  From the granting of children to warding off misfortune

  The benefits given are safe birth, the granting of children, safety in traffic and at sea, warding off misfortune, success and victory, and peace in the state and world.

  documented history

This shrine was built by a wife for her husband. Empress Jingu built the shrine with her own hands and enshrined there the spirit of Emperor Chuai — with her own person, as the account has it.

There are several places of the same shape on this list. Kodai-ji in Kyoto was founded by Nene to pray for Hideyoshi’s repose; Kofuku-ji in Nara traces its origin to a hall that Kamatari’s wife built to house her husband’s image; Shin-Yakushi-ji was founded by Empress Komyo in prayer for Emperor Shomu’s recovery. A wife raising a building for a husband, dead or ill, recurs in temples and shrines alike.

What is unusual here is what came next. A hall for the empress herself was built on an oracle given to the empress herself. The woman who built for her husband later received her own hall through her own oracle, and the two together were called Kashii-byo.

Each deity here is listed with its own virtue. Emperor Chuai for peace in the state, peace in the world and a flourishing household; Empress Jingu for diplomacy, the granting of children, safe birth and child-rearing, progress in the performing arts, and engineering and flood control; Emperor Ojin for the prospering of the state, warding off misfortune, martial fortune and victory; the Sumiyoshi deity for purification, dispelling calamity, and safety at sea and on the road. Who to ask for what is written out.

The empress’s hall was completed in 724, under Emperor Shomu. His name appears on this list at Todai-ji, Gango-ji, Hase-dera, Shin-Yakushi-ji and at Mizuma-dera in Osaka.

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. 香椎宮について — Kashiigu (accessed 2026-08-15)