Virtual Old Tsugaru 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Aburakawa-Shinmei-gu Shrine?

 

     Approximately there are about 18 thousand Shinmei Shrines in Japan and they enshrine Amaterasu, the Japanese solar deity, and their head shrine is Ise Grand Shrine.  Since the goddess is regarded to be the ancestor of the Royal Family, Ise Grand Shrine used to be supported by the Imperial Court.  As the court declined in the medieval times, the shrine dispatched its Shinto priests nationwide to collect contributions and donations.  Some priests founded Shinmei Shrines in their assigned places.

     Aburakawa was located where the road from the Tsugaru Plain met that ran along the Mutsu Bay.  It became an important port town with the merchants who immigrated from Omi Province.  Presumably, Aburakawa-Shinmei-gu Shrine was invited from Omi Province by the merchants in the medieval days.

     In 1624 and 1657, the shrine was rebuilt.  It is unknown when an Avalokitesvara image was enshrined in its precincts but it was presumably lost after the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868.  The Aburakawa Port's prosperity was also taken over by Aomori Port. 

     Giuseppe Fabri (?-1918), an Italian businessman, built a cannery in Aburakawa.

Address: Namigaeshi-66-2 Aburakawa, Aomori, 038-0059

Phone: 017-787-2068

Ise Grand Shrine

Address: 1 Ujitachicho, Ise, Mie 516-0023

Phone: 0596-24-1111

Address: 279 Toyokawacho, Ise, Mie 516-0042

Phone: 0596-24-1111