深吉野四社巡り⛩️

2025年2月1日 09:00

In November 2022, my wife and I paid visits to four Shintō Shrines in the backcountry of Yoshino, Nara Prefecture using a tour arranged by Nara Kintetsu Taxi.

Locations of 3 Niu-Kawakami Shrines
https://niukawakami-jinja.jp/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/3-sha.jpg

Itinerary

08:50 Departing at Shimoichi-guchi Station (下市口駅) of Yoshino Line of Kintetsu Railway (近鉄吉野線)
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Niu-Kawakami Shrine Shimosha 丹生川上神社下社 (located in Shimoichi Town)
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Yoshino Jingū 吉野神宮 (located in Yoshino Town)
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Niu-Kawakami Shrine Kamisha 丹生川上神社上社 (located in Kawakami Village)
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Niu-Kawakami Shrine Nakasha 丹生川上神社中社 (located in Higashi-Yoshino Village)
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14:55 Arriving at Haibara Station (榛原駅) of Ōsaka Like of Kintetsu Railway (近鉄大阪線)

We took a lunch at Hotel Suginoyu (杉の湯) in Kawakami Village (川上村) described in the following post:

Photos taken during the tour on 18th Nov. 2022

Niu-Kawakami Shrine Shimosha 丹生川上神社下社

The first torii gate (一の鳥居) of Niu-Kawakami Shrine Shimosha.

Long staircase connecting the hall of worship and the main shrine

One can see the long connecting staircase behind the worship hall.

This shrine is registered as a **Japan Heritage** (**日本遺産**) site.

Yoshino Jingū 吉野神宮

Torii gate of Yoshino Jingū. It was a superlatively beautiful day. (Casual language such as "an absurdly fabulous day" should be avoided in front of the torii gate.)

It clearly tells the main deity is **Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇)**. The capital of the Southern Court (南朝, Nanchō 1338–1392) was located in present-day Yoshino, Nara Prefecture. Built in 1892, the nature of **Yoshino Jingū** is completely different from that of Niu Kawakami Shrines.

For the Meiji government, it was politically symbolic to establish the Fifteen Shrines of the Kenmu Restoration (**建武中興十五社**) whose main deities were the imperial family and military commanders of the Southern Court who had devoted themselves to the Kenmu Restoration, though the present-day emperors are descendants of the Northern Court, and the descendants of the Southern Court are considered to be disconnected.

Worship hall of three auxiliary shrines (sessha): From let to right **Ryūō Shrine (瀧櫻神社)**, **Funaoka Shrine (船岡神社)**, **Mikage Shrine (御影神社)**

Niu-Kawakami Shrine Kamisha 丹生川上神社上社

The framed plaque in the worship hall reads **神雨霑灑** pronounced as shin-u-ten-sai, which means "God's rain moistens and spreads his bounty".

The place for worshipping Motomiya (old shrine, 元宮) from afar (遥拝所).
With the construction of the Ōtaki Dam, the old shrine along the river was submerged and moved to the present hillside in 1998.

The old shrine was located on the other side.

This tells the main deity is **Takaokami Ōkami (高龗大神)**, worshipped as the god of water and rain.

This torii gate shows **Takaokami Ōkami (高龗大神)**.

Niu-Kawakami Shrine Nakasha 丹生川上神社中社

The main deity is **Mizuhanome no kami (罔象女神)**, the representative water god in Japan together with the god Okami (淤加美神).

The first torii gate (一の鳥居) of Niu-Kawakami Shrine Nakasha.

Near the shrine was a lovely photo spot called **Himukashi Waterfall「東の瀧」**(East Waterfall)

**Niu Shrine (丹生神社)**, an auxiliary shrine, which was the original shrine called Hongū (本宮) and the main deity is 彌都波能売神(罔象女神) Mizuhanome no kami.

Basic facts on the three Niu-Kawakami Shrines

The history of the three Niu-Kawakami Shrines is a little bit complicated. The legend says Niu-Kawakami Shrine (丹生川上神社) was founded in 675.
It became the object of Imperial patronage during the early Heian period.
However, it gradually declined, and eventually even its location became unknown after the Ōnin War (応仁の乱, Ōnin no Ran), which was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477 during the Muromachi period in Japan.

In early Meiji period, the Kamisha (located in present-day Kawakami Village) as well as Shimosha (located in present-day Shimochi Town) were together re-identified as Niu-Kawakami Shrine.
Then a new theory arose in 1915 (in early Taisho period) claiming that the Aridōshi Shrine (蟻通神社) located in present-day Higashi-Yoshino Village had been the Niu-Kawakami Shrine. It was in 1922 that Niu-Kawakami Shrine Nakasha (丹生川上神社中社) was declared as the authentic Niu-Kawakami Shrine (丹生川上神社). The two shrines, Kamisha and Shimosha, were to be united to form a single shrine under Nakasha.
After the World War Ⅱ, the three shrines became independent.

The toponym Aridōshi remains in a bus-stop name of a community bus service by Higashi-Yoshino Village:

[NOTE] There're Aritōshi Shrines (蟻通神社) in
Tanabe City, Wakayama
https://aritoshi-jinja.jp/
Izumi-Sano City, Ōsaka
https://www.aritooshi.org/

A special present for participating the tour

Goshuin (御朱印 = shrine red seals) on handmade Japanese paper (I'm not a collector.)

Reference sites

It's deemed important to include a short description of Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 Go-Daigo-tennō), who successfully overthrew the Kamakura shogunate in 1333 and established the short-lived Kenmu Restoration to bring the Imperial Court back into power. This was to be the last time the emperor had real power until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Last but not least, our thanks to the driver🙏

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