Yahiko Shrine, Shinto shrine at Mount Yahiko, Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Yahiko Shrine stands at the eastern base of Mount Yahiko, a 634-meter sacred mountain that serves as the shrine's shintai. The present buildings date from 1916, after a 1912 village fire destroyed the earlier structures. The dark wooden worship hall has a tiled gabled roof with gold floral and scroll patterns on the porch ceiling, and a vermilion torii with a black plaque reading 彌彦神社 marks the approach.
According to shrine tradition, the shrine began when Ame-no-Kaguyama-no-mikoto was buried on Mount Yahiko and his son built a tomb shrine; the sixth descendant, Takenomorosumi-no-mikoto, is credited with constructing the shrine building under Emperor Sujin. It appears in the Shoku Nihon Kōki for 833 and received court ranks in 842 and 861. The buildings standing today date from 1916, after a village fire destroyed the earlier structures in 1912.
The name comes from Ame-no-Kaguyama-no-mikoto, a deity who taught people in Echigo how to fish, produce salt and grow rice. Today visitors see an active place of worship where locals pray for good harvests and prosperity.
The shrine stands about a 15-minute walk from Yahiko Station on the JR East Yahiko Line. A large parking area is available near the grounds for visitors arriving by car.
The shrine's treasury holds the Shida Ōdachi, a Muromachi-period blade by the Bizen Osafune smith Iemori with a 220.4 cm cutting edge, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1929. Armour and swords attributed to Minamoto no Yoriie, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Uesugi Kenshin are also kept there.
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