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August 1, 2019October 8, 2019

Suwa Taisha

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This post is part of a series called Japan 2017
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  • Hie shrine
  • Akasaka Hikawa Shrine
  • Hibiya park
  • Fuji Five Lakes
  • Shiraito Falls
  • Yamadaya Hotel
  • Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha
  • Kaminoyu Onsen
  • Minobusan Kuonji
  • Shimobe Onsen and Hayakawa Valley
  • Aburaya
  • Suwako
  • Takashima castle
  • Suwa Taisha
  • Manji Stone Buddha
  • Kiso Valley: Ono-no-taki, Nezame-no-toko, Kiso-no-kakehashi
  • Kiso-Fukushima

The area around lake Suwako is abundant with natural beauty, hot springs and historic sites, but for many the main reason to visit is the famous Suwa Taisha or the Grand Shrine of Suwa – one of the oldest and most interesting Shinto shrine complexes in Japan.

Similarly to the Grand Shrine of Ise, Suwa Taisha has two main sites, and within each site there are two separate shrines, which gives four shrines in total. If you’re travelling by public transit, visiting them all may take up the whole day. I had my own wheels, so in one day I did all four, plus Takashima castle and Manji-no Sekibutsu.

Kamisha, or Upper Shrine

Upper shrine is located south of the lake and consists of Maemiya and Honmiya, of which Maemiya (although it served as an auxiliary structure for Honmiya later) was founded first and is the oldest of all shrines of Suwa. This is where I started my visit from.

Maemiya

The buildings here are simple and few, and visually Maemiya is the least impressive of all the four shrines, but I liked it the most. It’s old and powerful – a good place to meditate.

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Maemiya
Main entrance
Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Maemiya
Maemiya’s torii gate

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Maemiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Maemiya
Maemiya’s haiden (the hall of worship).
Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Maemiya
Honden (the main hall housing the deity). Of the four shrines of Suwa Taisha, Maemiya is the only one to have a honden – others don’t. This honden was built in 1932 from materials left after reconstruction of the Grand Shrine of Ise.

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Maemiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Maemiya
Surrounding scenery

Honmiya

Located two kilometers away from Maemiya on the same side of the lake, Honmiya is a bigger site and the buildings here are visually more appealing. As it is often the case with Japan’s oldest shrines, Honmiya doesn’t have a honden (the building that enshrines the main deity). This usually happens because some natural object or location (a mountain, a cave, a waterfall) embodies the deity instead. Presently the nearby mountain – Mount Moriya – is recognized as such an object for Honmiya shrine, but before the early Meiji era it was a living person, the shrine’s high priest (Ohori).

Ohori was chosen at a young age from the boys of Suwa clan and after being ordained was considered the physical manifestation of the god himself. Purification and ordainment rituals were held at Maemiya, which also served as a residence for Ohori from that point on.

The tradition completely died with the last Ohori of Suwa, who passed away in 2002.

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
I’m entering through the eastern gate which is closer to the parking lot.
Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
The eastern gate is also closer to Maemiya, where Ohori resided. This covered walkway leading to Honmiya’s main buildings was reserved exclusively for his use.

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
Honmiya’s main compound, with haiden and auxiliary structures (again, there’s no honden here).

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
Kaguraden (building for ritual dances)
Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
It’s quite lively on the grounds, there’s a few people carrying big cameras.
Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
And here is why: some sort of vintage car rally is happening this day.
Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
The cars drive up to the shrine to receive the priest’s blessing.

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya

Suwa Taisha, Kamisha Honmiya
And off they go, full of light 🙂

Shimosha, or Lower Shrine

Shimosha is located on the opposite side of the lake and consists of two shrines: Akimiya and Harumiya. Historically there was little connection between Upper and Lower complexes, this is why the shrines of Shimosha feel very different from those of Kamisha – less mysterious, perhaps, but still very much worth seeing.

Akimiya

The town on the northern side of the lake is called Shimosuwa – during the Edo period two important roads (Nakasendo and Koshu-kaido) intersected here, and the area around the shrines still has a bit of a post town feel to it.
Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya
Both Akimiya and Harumiya have a very similar layout: entrance through torii gate, kaguraden at the center followed by a two story main building. This picture is from Harumiya, but Akimiya looks virtually the same.
Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya
Akimiya’s torii
Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya
Akimiya’s kaguraden…
Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya
…with one big shimenawa. Not as big as, say, in Izumo, but still quite impressive.
Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya
This two story building called “heihaiden” combines the hall for worship with treasure hall and is a distinct feature of Lower Shrine. Same as in Upper Shrine’s Honmiya, there’s no honden here (deity is embodied in a tree).

Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya

October is that time of year when chrysanthemum displays are everywhere, including temples and shrines.
Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya
But there’s no season for paper cranes. Those are timeless.

Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya

Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya

Suwa Taisha, Shimosha Akimiya

 

Harumiya

Harumiya is located one kilometer away from Akimiya and looks very similar to it – all the same buildings, just on a slightly smaller scale.

Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya
Harumiya’s torii gate
Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya
Harumiya’s kaguraden

Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya

Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya
Harumiya’s heihaiden

Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya

Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya

Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya

Any account of Suwa Taisha would be incomplete without mentioning the onbashira – four wooden pillars that stand on four corners of each shrine (other shrines in the region also feature the onbashira, but the pillars at Suwa Taisha are the most renowned). The original purpose of the pillars is unclear, but every six years (on the year of Tiger and Monkey) a new set of pillars is erected during the Onbashira festival, and this has been going on for about 1200 years.

Fragment of Harumiya’s layout showing the location of the pillars.

The festival is very famous not only because felling, pulling, and erecting of the wooden logs is a huge spectacle, but also because of associated dangers: there’s a tradition among the locals to ride the logs as they are being pulled down the mountain and dragged to the shrines, so every time a number of people gets injured or even killed. Onbashira festival has a reputation of being one of the most dangerous in Japan.

Onbashira at Maemiya
Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya
Onbashira pillar at Harumiya

The next Onbashira festival is to be held in 2022.

Posted in Japan, Places to visit
Tagged architecture, temple, shinto
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