Anna Film Production

• 旅

早朝、比叡山坂本駅で下車し琵琶湖を背にしばらく歩くと、大きな鳥居が現れました。鳥居を一歩くぐれば町並みはがらりと変わり木々の揺らぎと水音の心地よい響に満ちていました。
東本宮の印象は町並み同様、豊かな水で満たされた生命力あふれる聖域といったものでした。

Hiyoshi Taisha was first recorded in Kojiki, written in the 8th century. In the Middle Ages, the Enryaku-ji temple influenced the shrine to include some Buddhist essence.

The buildings of the shrine were burnt when Oda Nobunaga destroyed Enryaku-ji in 1571. The existing buildings were constructed in the last quarter of the 16th century.

The shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the early Heian period. In 965, Emperor Murakami ordered that Imperial messengers were sent to report important events to the guardian kami of Japan. These heihaku were initially presented to 16 shrines; and in 991, Emperor Ichijō added three more shrines to Murakami's list. Three years later in 994, Ichijō refined the scope of that composite list by adding Umenomiya Shrine and Gion Shrine, which is now known as Yasaka Jinja.

In 1039, Emperor Go-Suzaku ordered that one more shrine be added to the grouping created by Murakami and Ichijō—the Hie jinja. This unique number of Imperial-designated shrines has not been altered since that time.

From 1871 through 1946, the Hie jinja was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha (官幣大社), meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines.