Hiyoshi Shrine

How to get

Get off #2 bus (Minami-sen) at “Niibo Shoggakko Mae” bus stop. It is very near to the shrine.

Photo.61.1 Hiyoshi Shrine

Annual Festival is on April 14th, Year Prayer festival is on February 17th, and New Harvest Festival is on November 25th. Enshrined gods are O'oyamakui-no-Kami and O'omononusi-Mikoto¹⁾. There are many Hiyosi Shrines (Hie shirines) in Sado. Of those Hiyoshi Shrine(s), the one in Kaminiibo is the biggest. This shrine was established in 1226 by Ike Kiyonori. He was a subordinate of Juntoku-Joko who was sent to Sado as the punishment of Jokyu Incident in 1221²⁾.

In 9 to 10 century, there was a movement for local manors to donate their lands to the major temples/shrines in capital area. The purpose was to evade heavy tax exploitations by government officials who controls the local area. According to the record in 1319, the area of Hiyoshi Shrine in Niibo was being donated to Hie Shrine in Oumi Country where is currently Shiga prefecture³⁾. After the Jokyu incident in 1221, lords of manor were dispatched from Kanto region by Samurai Government "Kamakura Bakufu". Hiyoshi Shrine had played the role as the center of community in this area. The shrine’s festival had a function to unite people together. April 14th is the day of the festival which is magnificently done with many activities⁴⁾.

Photo.61.2 Hiyoshi Shrine

Please note that the following is not about Hiyoshi Shrine. If there is a common thing between the two, it is just ‘Niibo’. The following is added just for filling the space.

[Topic 2] Japanese Style Painter “Tsuchida Bakusen”

Tsuchida Bakusen⁵⁾ was born in Niibo, in 1887. When he finished elementary school, a Buddhist priest of Shogaku-Temple in Kanai town told him to come to the temple and to be a Buddhism Priest, saying that the temple would take a care of him from junior high school to university. In order to get trained more, he went to the head temple ‘Chishaku-in’ in Kyoto in 1903. However he got out of the Temple. He gave up priesthood and chose to be a painter. He studied painting under Takeuchi Seihou. In 1911, he graduated an art school in Kyoto. He drew many Japanese ladies especially Dancing Girls in Kyoto (Maiko). He got married in 1915 with one of Maiko(s) in Gion, Kyoto. His subsequent activities as a painter were many, so this website skips about writing them. He died in 1936 at age of 50. His wife donated 533 pieces of sketches and drafting to Sado Museum⁶⁾. As shown in Photo. 61.3 you can see several paintings by him in Sado Museum. The museum is accessible by bus#2 (Minam-sen). Name of the bus stop is "Sado Hakubutsukan Mae".

Distinctive feature of his paintings is that faces in his paintings are too much round⁷⁾. When it comes to circle-like round face, some Japanese may think of Sazae-san by Hasegawa Machiko. Anyway, the round faces in Tsuchida Bakusen’s paintings seem to be surrealistic somewhat. If you are interested in Japanese style paintings by Japanese painters, Higashiyama Kaii (1908- 1999) and Hirayama Ikuo (1930 - 2009) were good painters, although they have nothing to do with Sado. When it comes to Japanese style painter in Sado, there was one who was an exile in Edo Era (1603 -1867). His name is Kanou Hanyuu (1649-1730). He was sent to Sado at the age of 25, and kept painting for 56 years until he died at 81. A book writes about him in detail, however, the author is a little critical about the quality of his paintings⁸⁾.

Photo.61.3 Tsuchida Bakusen's Drawing in Sado Museum

The above [Topic 2] is not about Hiyoshi Shrine. Sorry if it seemed to be confusing.