Tachibana Shrine, Shinto shrine in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan
Tachibana Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Chijiwa, Unzen, founded in 1940 to honour Lieutenant Colonel Tachibana Shūta, a local officer killed at the Battle of Liaoyang. A large stone torii stands at the top of a broad flight of stone stairs, with a shrine building behind it. The grounds hold a bronze statue of Tachibana by Kitamura Seibō and monuments to Chijiwa Miguel and the painter Sen'unsen.
The shrine was founded in 1940 to honour a military officer who died during the Russo-Japanese War, an important moment in Japan's modern history. Local communities have maintained this memorial as a connection to that era.
The shrine honours Lieutenant Colonel Tachibana Shūta, a local man killed at the Battle of Liaoyang in 1904 and promoted after death. In its grounds stand a bronze statue of him by Kitamura Seibō and monuments to two other men from Chijiwa: the Tenshō embassy member Chijiwa Miguel and the painter Sen'unsen. Each January, near the Ōkan day, worshippers perform a midwinter purification in the nearby Chijiwa River.
The shrine faces National Route 57, and the large stone torii stands at the top of a broad stone stairway. The nearest bus stop, Tachibana Jinja-mae on the Shimabara Railway bus line, is a three-minute walk away. The grounds and the surrounding park are known for cherry blossoms, and the Tenman Shrine sits directly behind the main shrine.
The shrine grounds also hold a bronze statue of Tachibana by sculptor Seibo Kitamura, plus monuments to Chijiwa Miguel, a local who reached Rome as a Tenshō embassy member, and to the Edo-period painter Senzui Kuniyama. Behind the shrine stands the site of Kamafuta Castle.
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