Gosho Archives - Green Shinto

Itsukushima Jinja

Gosho’s Itsukushima Shrine stands on a small island surrounded by a pond. To the left is a teahouse, pictured below.

There’s an attractive pond area in the south-west of the Gosho park which contains a shrine for Benzaiten (or Benten for short). It’s named after the famous Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima, and was once part of a residential estate belonging to the prestigious Kujo family, one of the five regent houses close to the emperor whose members served as chief advisors. One of the family’s females became wife to Emperor Taisho.

Towards the end of the Edo Era the Tokugawa shogunate yielded to the demands of the USA to open up the country, though the imperial side led by Emperor Komei were strongly opposed. This led to fierce debate about whether or not to sign the Harris Treaty, and negotiations were held here in 1858 at the Kujo residence (Kujo Hisatada was Emperor Komei’s chief advisor).

Today all that remains of the estate is the pond with a Tea Ceremony House and a Benten shrine that served as guardian for the Kujo family. It’s said that the island on which the shrine stands was shaped to resemble that of Itsukushima.

The small shrine bears one striking feature – an unusually shaped torii. The karahafu curve is often seen in shrine architecture, but not in torii. A noticeboard states that it was first built by Taira Kiyomori at the end of the Heian Period, and that it was relocated on more than one occasion, eventually being placed here in Edo times.

The torii is the distinguishing feature of the small Itsukushima Jinja

Associated with water and the subconscious, Benzaiten is patron of the arts and creativity. With origins in India, she is served by a white snake and is the only female aboard the Treasure Boat carrying the Seven Lucky Deities. (Click here to read more about them, and about Benten herself.)

Unlike other Shinto deities, the syncretic and foreign origins of Ben(zai)ten means that she is often portrayed in paintings and statues. (Until the arrival of Buddhism, kami were considered to be unseen spirits and consequently there could exist no representations.) No doubt her status as muse of the arts is conducive too, and the shrine’s ema portrays the goddess with auspicious symbols and in creative mode as the patron saint of music.

Benten as a deity of music, whose favoured instrument is the biwa

Modern representation of Benten, with characteristic water, biwa and white snakes as her spiritual envoy. An Indian touch too, suggestive of her origins as Saraswati.

A magnificent red pine in the grounds of Kyoto’s Former Imperial Palace

In the middle of Kyoto is a large area of parkland containing the Former Imperial Palace, where lived Japanese emperors from 1331. Following the Meiji Restoration, the young emperor moved in 1869 to Edo, newly renamed as Tokyo, and with him moved the imperial court.

Following the relocation to Tokyo, the site was left to deteriorate until a project to reclaim it for the general public turned it into open parkland. Now it’s officially known as the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden, though locally it’s simply called Gosho (御所), Honorable Place.

The parkland is open and spacious, full of dog walkers and joggers and sightseers. It’s 700 meters wide and over a kilometer in length. In 2005 a State Guest House (Geihinkan) was added where foreign dignataries are put up. Altogether there are some 50,000 trees, including a plum grove and weeping cherry blossom, with a splendid display of bent pines and soaring camphor. Taken overall, it makes for a veritable tree exhibition.

During the Edo Period the estate had been crammed full of aristocrats, with the houses of some 200 court nobles packed in around two palace estates. A notice board at the entrance shows the layout as it used to be, and though the houses of the court nobles have gone now, there remain three Shinto shrines, open to the public.

By name, the shrines are Munekata Jinja, Itsukushima Jinja and Shirakumo Jinja. The first two are familiar, as they are named after major Shinto shrines near Hiroshima and Fukuoka, both of which happen to be World Heritage Sites. The third, Shirakumo, is relatively obscure. In this mini-series, we’ll be taking a closer look at the three shrines and considering what Shinto meant for the aristocracy.

Interestingly, there are no Buddhist temples within the imperial estate, though throughout Japanese history emperors and their followers practised Buddhism and sponsored many of the city’s large temples. Like any individual, the nobility sought salvation and this was not on offer from Shinto. From what I can gather, in their private practise they had at home a Buddhist ‘akadana’ for placing holy water and other offerings.

It would seem that the Shinto shrines speak to a different kind of attachment, for if Buddhism was universal Shinto was fiercely particularist. Through their worship of kami, the imperial aristocrats showed attachment to their native land and the spirit of place. This is exemplified by the last emperor to be born and die in Gosho, Emperor Komei (1831-1867), who famously made a special outing to Shimogamo Shrine to pray that foreigners be expelled from the sacred soil of Japan.

The close ties of the court nobles to the patriotic leanings of Shinto became all too apparent during the Meiji Period, when a new emperor-centred government sponsored State Shinto out of a desire to reject the Tokugawa favouring of Buddhism. The defeat of WW2 did little to cut the ties, as was seen during the ascension rites of the new Reiwa emperor last year when Shinto rituals were much in evidence while Buddhism was sidelined.

Walk around the Former Imperial Palace parkland today, and you can feel that in its trees and sense of history the ruined estate speaks powerfully to the animist and ancestral leanings of Shinto. Deified aristocrats and personalised natural phenomena comprise the park’s deities. And presiding over them is the spirit of a once secluded head priest – the emperor himself.

Tag: Gosho

Gosho’s Three Shrines (3)

Gosho’s Three Shrines (1)