Ishikiyoshi Hachimangu Shrine

Ishikiyoshi Hachimangu Shrine stands on the southern slopes of Mount Ishikiyoshi (232 metres) in the northern reaches of central Takamatsu, at the coordinates 1-30-3 Miyawaki-chō, Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. Designated a former prefectural shrine (kyū-kensha), it was established and maintained as the tutelary shrine of Takamatsu castle town under the Matsudaira clan, daimyō of Takamatsu domain during the early modern period. The shrine site forms part of a cohesive sacred landscape in Sanuki, adjacent to the Ishikiyoshi tumuli cluster—a Yayoi-to-Kofun period ritual site incorporating stone-pile graves (sekiseki-zuka).

The principal enshrined kami (shusaijin) are three deities of the Hachiman tradition: Tarashimakatsuhiko-no-Mikoto (Emperor Chūai), Hondawake-no-Mikoto (Emperor Ōjin), and Okinagatarashihime-no-Mikoto (Empress Jingū). According to the *Kojiki* (Records of Ancient Matters, 712 CE), Emperor Ōjin is recorded as the child of Empress Jingū. The shrine also enshrines Kasuga-no-Kami (Amagashiokane-no-Mikoto) as a subsidiary deity. As a branch shrine of Usa Grand Shrine in Usa, Ōita Prefecture—the head shrine of the nationwide Hachiman faith—Ishikiyoshi was developed during the early modern period as the principal tutelary shrine of Sanuki.

According to the shrine's founding tradition, it was established through a transfer of kami (kanpei) from Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture in 918 (Engi 18). During the medieval period, it received the veneration of the Hōsokawa clan, daimyō of Sanuki; in the early modern period, it was patronised by the Matsudaira lords of Takamatsu domain (a cadet house of the Tokugawa of Mito). The main hall (honden) and worship hall (haiden) underwent reconstruction from the Edo period through the modern era and stand in their present form. The shrine was designated a prefectural shrine in the Meiji period.