Virtual Honjo Domain 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Hisumi Shrine

 

     Mount Hisumi was a holy place for northern foreigners.  Hisumi Shrine was founded by Fujiwara Hisanojo on the top of the mountain in 700.

     Abe Hirafu, the governor of Koshi Province, commanded 180 ships and attacked Mishihase in 658.  After the attack, he offered the central government 2 alive bears and 70 bear hides.  In 659, he attacked Mishihase and offered the central government 49 captives.  In 660, the central government finally dispatched Abe Hirafu so that he could command 200 ships and attack Mishihase.  He ordered Emishi people in Mutsu Province to board the ships, and got to the southern riverbank of a large river.  At that time, 1,000 Emishi people in Watari-jima were encamped on the other riverbank.  2 of them proceeded and shouted out, “Many of Mishihase’s ships and soldiers are coming.  They are going to kill us.  We’d like to cross the river and work for you.”  Abe sent a ship and asked the two where the enemy was hiding their ships and how many ships they had.  The two pointed at a place and said, “More than 20 ships.”  Abe sent a messenger to the enemy, but they denied coming.  They also refused Abe’s appeasement policies, and held the fortress in Herobe Island.  They were defeated by Abe, and killed their own wives and children on the island.  Abe offered the central government 50 captives.

     Herobe Island could have been a sandbar island at the mouth of Tosa Lake.

     Abe Hirafu employed either appeasement policies or hard-liner policies depending on his opponent’s moves.  His appeasement policies worked for Emishi, but not for Mishihase. In 630, the Tang Dynasty had conquered Turkic people in the north of China, and had directly come into contact with Mohe tribes, who were living in the Amur River basin.  In the middle of the 7th century, when Abe Hirafu attacked Mishihase, the Tang Dynasty started invading Goguryeo in the northern part of Korea Peninsula.  For Mishihase, whether they were a part of Mohe tribes or those with the Okhotsk culture who inhabited in northern Hokkaido, Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin Island, Tang China might have seemed to be a bigger and more attractive market.In 709, Ideha County, which was changed to Dewa later by the end of the 12th century, was established at the northern end of Koshi Province.  Ideha Fortress was supposedly built around that time at the estuary of Mogami River.

     Anyway, it is unknown whether Hisanojo had something to do with Hirafu.

     Hisumi Shrine's deity was Seoritsuhime.  When the Imperial Army advanced north, they brought Seoritsuhime.  It is unknown whether Seoritsuhime was brought directly from the central part of Japan or indirectly from Seoritsuhime Shrine in Mutsu Province.  Presumably after the Shrine Bureau, which implemented Shrine Consolidation Policy, was created as a branch of the Home Ministry in 1900, the shrine was merged to Hisumi-Hakusan Shrine.  By the year 1986, 77,899 Shinto shrines were closed, despite considerable local opposition.  In 1954, Hisumi Shrine became independent again in its original and present place, but, at the time, its main deity was Ohirume, somehow.

Address: Hisumisan 1, Takinosawa, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0091

Phone: 0184-29-2549

Seoritsuhime Shrine

Address: Karakuwacho Higashimone, Kesennuma, Miyagi 988-0582

Hisumi-Hakusan Shrine

Address: Ishibashiyama-124 Ayuse, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0084

Phone: 0184-29-2549