Hakusan Shirayama-hime Engi

The Hakusan Shirayama-hime Engi records the founding of the Hakusan cult on Mount Haku (2,702 m), at the border of Kaga, Echizen and Mino. In Yoro 1 (717), the Echizen monk Taicho is said to have climbed Mount Haku and, on the summit Gozenmine, perceived the goddess as a manifestation of Eleven-Faced Kannon. The goddess is identified with Izanami-no-Kami or Kukurihime-no-Kami of the Kiki, and three pilgrimage entries (sanbaba) were established at Kaga-baba (Shirayama Hime Jinja), Echizen-baba (Heisen-ji) and Mino-baba (Nagataki Hakusan Jinja). Through the medieval period the cult was the centre of Hakusan worship across Japan and a major Shugendo training site. The structure has three parts: Taicho's ascent and revelation of the Eleven-Faced Kannon; Shinto identification with Kukurihime and Izanami through honji-suijaku; and the establishment of the three baba and the spread of Hakusan worship. The site centres on Shirayama Hime Jinja at Sannomiya-machi in Hakusan City (Ishikawa), with the okumiya on Gozenmine. Heisen-ji Hakusan Jinja in Heisen-ji-cho, Katsuyama (Fukui), is a national historic site preserving the remains of a great medieval temple complex; Nagataki Hakusan Jinja in Shirotori-cho, Gujo (Gifu), is the Mino entry. The complex is protected within Hakusan National Park (Ishikawa, Fukui, Gifu, Toyama). Sources include the medieval Taicho Osho Denki, the Hakusan no Ki, the Genko Shakusho volume 18 and the Fuso Ryakki; honji notes appear in the Shinto-shu and Jin'ten Aino-sho. Kukurihime appears in the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), age-of-the-gods fifth section, 'one writing' tenth, in the parting of Izanagi and Izanami at Yomi. Modern documentation includes shrine records, regional materials and the Cultural Affairs Agency's entry for 'Hakusan Heisen-ji former precincts'.