Anahahchimangu Shrine

Anahahchimangu Shrine stands in Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. The shrine originated in the Edo period as a continuation of Takada Hachimangu, which enjoyed the respect of the Tokugawa shogunate. It is best known for distributing talismans (*ofuda*) of renewal (ichiyō raifuku—'one yang returns') during the period from winter solstice to Candlemas, a practice dating to the early modern period and drawing the devotion of merchants and townspeople.

The shrine precincts occupy a hilltop along Meiji Avenue, southeast of Takada Riding Ground (a famous Edo-period training ground) and south of Waseda University. According to the shrine's founding tradition, the name 'Anahahchimangu' ('Cave Hachiman') derives from the discovery of an Amida Buddha statue in a horizontal cave on the southern slope of the shrine grounds.

The principal enshrined kami are Emperor Ōjin (also known by his personal name, Homuda-wake-no-Mikoto), Emperor Chūai, and Empress Jingū—the three kami of the Hachiman triad. According to the *Kojiki* (Records of Ancient Matters, 712 CE), Emperor Ōjin was born to Empress Jingū upon her return from the conquest of the Three Korean Kingdoms, an expedition recorded in the middle scroll's account of Emperor Chūai. In Buddhist practice, Hachiman came to be identified with Amida Buddha, a synthesis that forms the core of this shrine's founding history.

The shrine's documented origins trace to 1062 CE, when, according to shrine tradition, the military commander Minamoto-no-Yoshiie established Hachiman worship at this site during a campaign in the north. In 1636, Tokugawa Iemitsu (the third shogun) refounded the shrine as Takada Hachimangu within the precincts of Hōseiji Temple. During construction work in 1641, workers discovered the Amida Buddha statue in a horizontal cave, confirming the name 'Anahahchimangu'. The shrine received ongoing patronage from successive Tokugawa shoguns and was formally designated as a village shrine (*sonsha*) in the Meiji period following the Shinto-Buddhist separation (shinbutsu-bunri, 1868).

The annual ritual calendar includes the distribution of renewal talismans from winter solstice through Candlemas, the principal festival on 15 September, and monthly observances on the first and fifteenth of each month.