Hokoku-jinja Shrine (Nagahama City) (豊国神社 (長浜市))
Hokoku-jinja Shrine stands in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture.
It enshrines Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI, or "Hokoku Daimyojin (Great Luminous Deity of Our Bountiful Country)", as well as Kiyomasa KATO and Shigenari KIMURA as Kotoshiro nushi (a Japanese ancient god). It is the first fudasho (temples where amulets are distributed to pilgrims) in a pilgrimage of six temples in Omi-Nagahama.
History
Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI had been the lord of Nagahama-jo Castle (Omi Province) from 1573 to 1576. This shrine was constructed by Nagahama citizen remembering Hideyoshi's illustrious memory in 1600 at the second anniversary of his death. After the Edo period had started, the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) placed the ban of Hideyoshi brief and pulled down the sanctuary, the main building of a Shinto shrine. While, the enshrined deity was moved to the house of machi-doshiyori (ward head) by citizens, then enshrined secretly in the back of a shrine for the Ebisu (a god of fishing and commerce), and that is why the Kotoshiro nushi is enshrined together in the present Hokoku-jinja Shrine. After the Maiji Restoration, the name of "Hokoku-jinja Shrine" revived and the haiden (a hall of worship) was reconstructed in 1898 at the 299th (or 300th by Japanese traditional way of counting ages) anniversary of Hideyoshi. It was counted among the list of sonsha (a village shrine) in 1881, gosha (villages shrine) in 1920, and prefectural shrine (of prefectures other than Kyoto and Osaka) in 1922.
Precincts of the Shrine
Main shrine
The shinden (shrine sanctuary) was built in the style of Shinmei tsukuri (style of shrine architecture based on that of Ise-jingu Shrine) in the middle of the Edo period. The kohai (a roof built over the steps leading up to a temple building) was built with hiwadabuki (cypress bark roof), karahafu (cusped gable). The haiden (a hall of worship) was built with chidori hafu (a trianglular shaped gable or a dormer bargeboard, or both combined).
Shusse Inari-Jinja Shrine
Ceiling painting of the front hall drawn by Tomikichiro TOMIRIKI
Kicchoen (the Kiccho garden)
Tenman-gu Shrine
Its Main Shinto Rituals
Tokaebisu Festival (a festival held in honor of Ebisu in January)
In October Hoko-matsuri Festival in which samurai's procession takes place is held.
Access
A three-minute's walk from Nagahama Station of Hokuriku Main Line
Information for Nearby Spots
Kurokabe Square
Daitsu-ji Temple (Nagahama-gobo Temple) in Nagahama City
Shana-in Temple
Nagahama Hachimangu Shrine
Narita Museum
Keiun-kan Guest House (the circuit style garden created by Jihei OGAWA is a state scenic beauty)
Chizen-in Temple
The former Myokaku-in Temple Kyugetsu-tei Garden