Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu stands in Yukinoshita, Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the small hill of Tsurugaoka at the head of the Wakamiya-oji avenue. It is the ancestral Hachiman shrine of the Minamoto family and the central shrine of medieval Kamakura. The main enshrined deity is Emperor Ojin (Hondawake-no-Mikoto), with Empress Jingu and Himegami as co-enshrined deities. According to the Azuma Kagami, the shrine was originally founded in 1063 by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi at Yui-go after his victory in the Former Nine Years' War, and was relocated to the present site in 1180 by Minamoto no Yoritomo when he established the Kamakura shogunate. The shrine became the spiritual and ceremonial center of the Kamakura government, and its layout influenced Hachiman shrines across eastern Japan. The current main hall (1828) is an Important Cultural Property. The Reitaisai festival in September continues an annual cycle dating to the Kamakura period.