Iwashimizu Hachimangu

Iwashimizu Hachimangu (石清水八幡宮) is a Shinto shrine on Mount Otoko in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, one of the two imperial ancestral shrines (Niso-no-Soubyo) alongside Ise Jingu. The principal kami is Emperor Ojin, enshrined as Hachiman-Okami in the central hall, with Hime-Okami (the Munakata triad) and Empress Jingu in the eastern and western halls forming the Hachiman triad. According to shrine tradition, the monk Gyokyo received a divine pronouncement at Usa Jingu in 859 CE to relocate Hachiman to Mount Otoko near the capital, and the shrine was completed in 860 CE. From the Kanpyo era (889-898) the shrine was ranked among the top seven of the twenty-two Heian shrines, and the present main hall, built by Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1634, was designated a National Treasure in 2016. The Iwashimizu Festival on 15 September is one of the three imperial festivals of Japan.