Aruka Shrine, Shinto shrine in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Aruka Shrine's main hall (hongū) stands in Kamigō, Ebina, on a natural levee between the Sagami River and its tributaries. The worship hall, offering hall and covering hall form a single three-part structure sheltering the honden, a large 18th-century building in the flowing nagare-zukuri style with persimmon-bark roofing. A copper-clad wooden hall faces south, fronted by a twisted rope with white zigzag streamers.
The shrine's founding year is unknown, but it appears in the Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku as receiving the junior fifth rank, lower grade, in 869, alongside Samukawa Shrine. It is listed in the 927 Engishiki as Aruka Shrine of Koza District, Sagami Province. In the medieval period it was patronized by the Ebina clan, and in the Edo period it served as the tutelary shrine of five villages in the Ebina area.
The shrine's name comes from the deities Arukahiko-no-Mikoto, a sun god, and Arukahime-no-Mikoto, a water goddess, honoured together as Aruka Daimyōjin. The Mizuhiki Matsuri on 8 April carries a sacred stone from the main shrine to the Aruka cave near the Okumiya, returning it on 14 June. Since 2017 a panda-masked character, the Panda Gūji Dairi, has appeared at festivals and school visits.
The shrine faces the Hachioji road, and the Yokosuka waterway cuts through part of the grounds. The worship hall, offering hall and covered main sanctuary form one connected building facing south, reached by a short stone stairway. The main sanctuary and the dragon ceiling painting are Ebina city cultural properties.
The shrine's sacred body is a pale black round stone about 15 cm high and 27 cm around, kept in the inner sanctuary. The main hall behind the worship hall is a large 18th-century structure of the flowing style with persimmon-bark roofing, designated a city cultural property in 1992 along with the dragon painting on the worship hall ceiling.
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