Usa Jingu Shrine

Usa Jingu is the first shrine in Bungo, located at the foot of Mount Goshozan (647 meters above sea level) and is the head shrine of the 44,000 Hachimangu shrines in Japan.

It is one of the most important shrines in Shintoism, and is considered one of the oldest shrines in Japan. In ancient times, it was treated as the Nisho Sobyo (the second shrine) along with Ise Jingu Shrine.

It is one of the three major Hachimangu shrines in Japan, along with Ishimizu Hachimangu Shrine and Hakozaki Shrine (or Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine).

The main shrine consists of an upper shrine on the top of Mt. Ogura (Kameyama), a small hill, and a lower shrine at the foot of the hill.

The precincts of the shrine are designated as a national historic site, and the three main shrines are designated as national treasures.

It was called Hachiman Usamiya or Hachiman Daibosatsu Usamiya. Before the separation of the Shinto and Buddhist temples, the temple was officially called Usa Hachimangu Maitreya Temple, as it was combined with Maitreya Temple, a jingu-ji temple.
Even today, the temple is commonly called Usa Hachiman.

Unlike most other shrines, the method of worship at Usa Hachimangu Shrine is to bow in prayer two times, four times, clapping hands, and bowing once.

Main Hall of Usa Jingu Shrine
Facing south, there are three halls of roughly the same size: Ichino-oden, Nino-oden, and San-no-oden.

It was rebuilt in 1861 in the typical Hachiman-zukuri style with 2 kan (front) and 4 kan (side), white walls, vermilion-lacquered pillars, and cypress bark roof, and guttering made of pure gold.