Chikudo Hachiman Shrine

A long time ago, during the reign of Emperor Saga (about 1,200 years ago), there was a man who worshipped the god Hachiman very fervently in the village of Ushigome in Toyoshima District, Musashi Province. On one occasion, a divine spirit appeared to him in his dream and said, "I will leave a mark on thy faith," and he wondered, and as soon as he woke up, he went to the well to cleanse himself and worship, and when he saw a beautiful cloud like a long narrow flag fluttering over a pine tree beside him, a white dove appeared from the clouds and perched on the treetops of the pines. When he told this story to the villagers and learned of the appearance of the divine spirit, he immediately tied the rope and enshrined the pine. Later, when Denkyo Daishi visited this place, he heard about this reason and carved a statue of the god and enshrined it in a shrine. At that time, he sought the Usa shrine of Tsukushi and used it as a foundation, so he named it Tsukudo Hachiman Shrine. Later, in the year of civilization (about 500 years ago), Uesugi Asoki, who was in charge of the development of Edo, modified the shrine (shadan) and made this place the god of production and soil (Ubusunagami) and the god of Edo protection. The deities of the festival are Emperor Ojin, Empress Jingu, and Emperor Chuai. Currently, the precincts of the shrine are about 2,200 square meters, and the shrine hall, which was burned down in the war in Showa 20, was rebuilt by the Kumagai Gumi after the people of the clan gathered the pure goods in Showa 38, and is revered by the people as the god of production in Chikudo Hachiman Town, Tsukudo Town, Higashi Goken Town, Shin-Ogawa Town, Shimomiyabi Town, Yangba Town, Kagura Kami, Kagurazaka 4-chome, Kagurazaka 5-chome, Shirogin-cho, Fukuro-cho, and Iwato town. The grand festival is held annually on September 15. In the precincts, there are old stone structures such as the Koshin Pagoda (see later), the torii gate (Kyoho 11th year, 1726), the Komainu (Bunka 7th year, 1810), and the Baidu Stone (Meiji 15), as well as the song monument of Tamura Torazo, who composed "Kintaro", "Ichijishi", and "Hanasakiya" (Showa 41).