Hirose Taisha Shrine

Hirose Taisha stands where nine rivers of the Nara Basin, including the Yamato, Tera and Soga rivers, come together. It is an ancient shrine that has long been revered as a deity of farming and flood control, and its vermilion-lacquered Kasuga-zukuri buildings stand in the precincts. The principal deity is the water god Wakaukanome-no-Mikoto (also called Oimi-no-Kami), who the shrine tradition regards as the same deity as Toyouke-hime-no-Okami of the Outer Shrine of Ise and Ukanomitama-no-Kami of Fushimi Inari Taisha. Kushitama-no-Mikoto and Hoikazuchi-no-Mikoto are enshrined alongside.

The legend of its founding goes back to the reign of Emperor Sujin. An oracle came to the village headman of Kawai; a marsh turned into dry land and mandarin-type orange trees (tachibana) grew in abundance, and a shrine to the water god was built. In written records, the Nihon Shoki entry for 675 (the fourth year of Emperor Temmu) says that the deity Oimi was enshrined at Hirose. This is regarded as the origin of the Hirose Oimi-sai festival, which together with the wind god of Tatsuta was held as a national ritual. The Engishiki register ranks it as a Myojin Taisha, and its court rank rose in the Heian period until it received the highest rank, Shoichii, in 1081. It was also counted among the Middle Seven of the Twenty-Two Shrines.

From the medieval period hard times followed. The shrine lands, more than 500 cho in the Muromachi period, were seized after treasures and old documents were lost in an arson attack in 1506, and in the Tensho era Toyotomi Hidenaga confiscated them. In 1871 it was ranked as a Kanpei Taisha, and after the Second World War it came to be called Hirose Taisha.

Of the buildings, the main hall, rebuilt in 1711, is a Kasuga-zukuri structure designated a Nara Prefecture cultural property. The worship hall was rebuilt in the Meiji era. Auxiliary shrines include Mizuashi Myojin, Haraedo-sha, Sorei-sha, Inari-sha and and Hiyoshi-sha. Another feature unique to this shrine is the Russian army field gun and shells, dedicated as spoils of the Russo-Japanese War.

The main event is the Sunakake Matsuri (Sand-Throwing Festival), the rice-planting ritual held every February 11. It is a rite to pray for rain, held in two parts, the denjo-no-gi and the teijo-no-gi; in the courtyard a temporary paddy is made before the worship hall, and men playing field workers and an ox act out rice planting. Worshippers join in and throw sand at one another vigorously as if it were raindrops. It is said the more sand is thrown the more rain will fall, and children take part too. It became an intangible folk cultural property of Kawai Town in 2009.

You can enter the precincts freely. Walking from Horyuji Station takes about 30 minutes, so you may prefer a bus or car. Together with Horyu-ji (about 2.9 km away) and Hokki-ji (about 3.5 km away), you can plan a half-day route that follows both water worship and ancient Buddhist architecture. Check at the shrine for yourself how it stands at the meeting of rivers.