Page 143 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

76

yo Hachiman with two attendant deities exemplifies the latter. The association of
Kyókaku (fl. 1326) Shinto deities with Buddhist temples, and
wood indeed their conflation with Buddhist dei-
h. Hachiman, 72.3 (2872); Okinaga ties, was a characteristic phenomenon of
Tarashihime, 44.3 (lyVz); Himegami, the Heian period.
45.2 (173/4) The Iwashimizu Hachimangü had
Kamakura period, 1326 been built by Minamoto Yoriyoshi (999-
Akana Hachimangü, 1075). Following his ancestor's example,
Shimane Prefecture Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) estab-
Important Cultural Property lished a Hachimangú at Tsurugaoka in Ka-
makura, site of his newly created warrior
government. Because of Yoritomo's
The triad is composed of Hachiman (the veneration of the god, Hachiman became
god of war) in the center wearing a courtly widely revered as the patron deity of the
robe (ho) and holding a wooden ceremo- Minamoto lineage as well as the guardian
nial slat (shaku), with Okinaga Tarashihime of the military class and hence "god of
(Empress Jingü) to his right and the god- war."
dess Himegami (often identified as Hachi- Akana Hachimangü is located in the
man's consort) to his left. The style of mountainous area of Shimane Prefecture
their clothing is modeled after that of the near the border of Hiroshima Prefecture.
court of the Heian period. As a branch of Iwashimizu Hachimangü, it
Hachiman has been worshiped at has been in existence since at least the
least since the Nara period. His oldest ex- twelfth century. In 1965, when this triad of
tant shrine is located in Usa (present-day Hachiman with two attendants was re-
Oita Prefecture, Kyushu), where he seems stored, inscribed wooden tablets were dis-
to have been a local and relatively minor covered inside the image of Hachiman.
Shinto deity. In the mid-eighth century The tablets greatly clarified the circum-
Hachiman was dramatically elevated to stances of its creation. According to the in-
Shinto tutelary deity of Tôdaiji, the impe- scription, in 1326 the jitô (estate steward)
rially commissioned Buddhist temple in of the area, joined by several others, com-
Nara. This set a precedent for the building missioned the triad from Kyokaku of
of Hachiman shrines, both independently Yamashiro Province (present-day Kyoto),
and within the precincts of Buddhist tem- a great sculptor of Buddhist images.
ples; the Hachimangü, built at Iwashimizu Hachiman is made of Japanese nut-
south of Kyoto, exemplifies the former sta- meg (kaya, Torreya nucifera); while Japa-
tus, the Hachiman shrine at Tôji in Kyoto nese cypress (hinoki) is used for the other

130