Virtual Kameda Domain 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Ubai Shrine (Shinnosawa Shrine)

 

     It is unknown when Ubai Shrine was founded in Shinnosawa Village, which was located to the south of Akotsu Port.

     The most famous Ubai Shrine in Japan is in Hachijo-jima Island, Tokyo Prefecture.   Ubai was one of the 8 wives of God Kotoshironushi, and is believed to have migrated from Izumo Province to Hachijo-jima Island.  Did some people sail from the island to Matsugasaki Port and live in a tiny adjoining flatland?  Or did some people immigrated directly from Izumo Province along the Sea of Japan to the Akotsu Port area with Goddess Ubai?

     There seems to have been a lagoon along the seashore, and those settlers might have reclaimed rice fields from the lagoon.  It is documented there was a marsh along the beach even in 1646.

     It is unknown when Ubai Shrine was renamed Shinnosawa Shrine.  Presumably in the Edo Period, Shinnosawa-ji Temple was founded as its shrine temple, and was abolished after the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868.

     Rice became the de facto currency in the Edo Period.  Farmers and peasants had to pay their taxes with rice.  Samurai's greediness caused rice planting to move northward.  Some samurai even used their stockpile rice as their currency.  All in all, the farmers and peasants in the northern provinces became vulnerable to cold weather and natural disasters.

     In 1695 and 1696, famine hit Mutsu and Dewa Provinces.  From 1646 to 1702, the village's output decreased by 36 percent.

Address: 68-1 Shinnosawa, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0033

Ubaihomei Shrine

Address: 660-1 Okago, Hachijojima, Hachijo, Tokyo 100-1401

Phone: 04996-2-1440

Shinnosawa Hiyamizu Shrine

Address: Hiyamizu Shinnosawa, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0033