Mito Hachimangu

Mito Hachimangu in Mito, Ibaraki, stands on the upland north of Lake Senba in western Mito. Its main hall, built in 1592, is a Momoyama-era Important Cultural Property. The grounds also preserve a great ginkgo planted by Tokugawa Nariaki, designated a National Natural Monument. The main deities are the Hachiman triad of Emperor Ojin, Empress Jingu and Hime-gami, descending from Usa Jingu in Oita. Kojiki (712 CE) records Emperor Ojin in the Empress Jingu narrative. Shrine tradition records a 1592 founding by Satake Yoshinobu (1570-1633), the Hitachi shugo, who transferred the deity from Kashima Hachimangu in Naka-nishi to the Mito castle site. After the Satake clan was transferred to Akita in 1602, the shrine continued as the tutelary of the Mito castle town and received the patronage of the second Mito Tokugawa lord Mitsukuni from 1627 onward. It was registered as a district shrine in 1871 and a prefectural shrine later. The August reisai with mikoshi procession is the principal rite.