Shiraoi Hachiman Shrine

Shiraoi Hachiman Shrine, located in Honcho, Shiraoi Town, Shiraoi District, Hokkaido, is the chief tutelary of Shiraoi Town on the Pacific coast and an example of the Hachiman shrines built in Hokkaido between the late Edo and the early modern eras. Nearby stands Upopoy, the National Ainu Museum, in Wakakusa-cho, in a region where Honshu-style shrine devotion intersects with Ainu culture. The principal deity is Hondawake-no-Mikoto (Ojin Tenno), following the configuration of Usa Jingu in Buzen Province, the head Hachiman shrine. It is a southwestern branch within the Hokkaido shrine network centered on Hokkaido Jingu in Chuo Ward, Sapporo, and a typical case of Hachiman devotion transplanted from Honshu in the late Edo through early modern era. Three pioneer deities (Okuni-tama-no-Kami, Onamuchi-no-Kami, and Sukunabikona-no-Kami) may be enshrined as attendants. Tradition relates that the shrine was founded between 1848 and 1854 by samurai of the Sendai domain garrison serving at the Shiraoi Motojinya, the Sendai domain's coastal defense outpost, which is now a National Historic Site. From the Meiji era it served as the chief tutelary of Shiraoi Town. The August annual rite is the main festival.