Ushimado Shrine, Shinto shrine in Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Ushimado Shrine is a single-story wooden shrine building in Ushimado, Setouchi, with a dark brown timber facade under a broad grey-tiled roof whose eaves curve slightly upward. A straw shimenawa rope with five white zigzag paper streamers and fringed pendants hangs above a row of offertory boxes. A wooden lattice window and a stone pillar marked "Hyakudo-ishi" stand to the right.
Founded during the Chōwa era (1012–1016), the shrine was first a local cult site called Ushimado Myōjin. Later, based on the legend of Empress Jingū's conquest of the Three Han, the Hachiman deities were invited here. It is listed in the Bizen provincial register of shrines as "Ushimado Myōjin, Junior Third Rank", though absent from the Engishiki.
The shrine is also called Ushimado Hachimangū, and its deities are Emperor Ōjin, Empress Jingū, Himegami and Takenouchi no Sukune. The grounds hold votive paintings, including an ema of the okage-mairi pilgrimage (a prefectural cultural property) and the Tandai tosui-zu and Shinsen-zu ema, both city cultural properties.
The shrine stands at Ushimado 2147 in Setouchi, Okayama Prefecture. The approach is a long stone staircase; the grounds include the main hall (honden), a wooden lattice window, and a stone pillar marked "Hyakudo-ishi" to the right of the facade. Two upright banners stand at the left, the taller white one inscribed "英田 伊勢神宮式年遷宮".
A gate called Sui-shin Mon marks the entrance with images of guardian deities and was restored about two centuries ago. The gate glows with nighttime lighting, creating a warm feeling as visitors pass through into the sacred space.
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