Virtual New Innami County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Jissho-in Temple

 

The Mystery of Jissho-in: Searching for a Lost Temple in the Shadow of Oshio-Tenman-gu

     The Jissho-in Temple remains a historical enigma. Once a sub-temple of Chosho-ji—the jinguji (shrine-temple) of Oshio-Tenman-gu Shrine—its exact location was lost following the anti-Buddhist policies of the Meiji Restoration. To find it, one must navigate the complex web of shrine mergers and the shifting geography of the medieval Oshio Manor.

A Landscape Transformed

It seems I have passed Inamino.

Higasa Mountain range runs along the heavens

And waves are washing the foot of the mountains.

     Ancient records, including the Man’yoshu (compiled after 759), describe the Higasa Mountain range as a headland where waves washed against its base. Over centuries, land reclamation transformed this coastal landscape into the villages of Oshio, Bessho, Kitajuku, and others. As the population moved south onto this reclaimed land, the spiritual center also shifted, leading to the relocation of the Tenman-gu Shrine to its current site and the subsequent reorganization of its parish.

Legends of Origin and Division

     The Harima Province Shrine Register (dating its core to 1181) records Iya Myojin and Kamo Myojin as the original deities of the area before Sugawara Michizane became the primary focus. Various legends suggest different "original" sites for the shrine:

1. The summit of the hill (the "Original Tenman-gu").

2. The foot of the hill at Iya Myojin.

3. The former Kobayashi Village at Kamo Myojin.

     The division of Kamo Myojin’s parishioners eventually gave birth to Hiyoshi Shrine in Bessho and Kamo Shrine in Kitajuku. In such a fragmented and evolving religious landscape, where did Jissho-in stand? Was it tucked within the precincts of the main Chosho-ji, or was it a satellite temple established to serve one of these splintered communities?

The Silent Records

     The history of these shrines is intertwined with the Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku (True Records of Three Reigns), a text compiled in 901 by figures including Sugawara Michizane himself. While the Harima Province Shrine Register provides a snapshot of the 174 shrines merged into Itatehyozu Shrine in 1181, the precise footprint of secondary temples like Jissho-in often went unrecorded in official state documents.

     Finding the site of Jissho-in today is a puzzle composed of discarded temple stones and faded village boundaries. Was it a victim of geographical relocation, or was it strategically placed to anchor a newly formed village? The answer lies buried beneath the modern-day towns of Himeji and Takasago.

Ex-Oshio-Tenman-gu Shrine Site

Address: 443 Oshiocho, Himeji, Hyogo 671-0101

Oshio-Tenman-gu Shrine

Address: 1 Chome-50 Oshiocho Shiosaki, Himeji, Hyogo 671-0102

Phone: 079-254-0980

Kamo Shrine

Address: Kitajuku-254 Besshocho, Himeji, Hyogo 671-0223

Hiyoshi Shrine

Address: 687 Besshocho Bessho, Himeji, Hyogo 671-0221

Tenman-gu Shrine

Address: 764 Oshiocho, Himeji, Hyogo 671-0101

Phone: 079-254-0980

Itatehyozu Shrine

Address: 190 Soshahonmachi, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0015

Phone: 079-224-1111

Mt. Hikasa Mountaintop Observation Deck

Address: 1869 Oshiocho, Takasago, Hyogo 676-0082