Chiba Shrine
Chiba Shrine (千葉神社, "Chiba-jinja") is a Shinto shrine located in Chūō-ku, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. Originally a Buddhist temple dedicated to the deity Myōken, the patron of the Chiba clan, it was converted into a Shinto shrine dedicated to Ame-no-Minakanushi (a "kami" in Japanese mythology conflated with Myōken) during the Meiji period. Due to its historical status as one of the principal centers of Myōken worship in Chiba Prefecture associated with the Chiba clan, the shrine is also popularly known as Chiba Dai-Myōken (千葉大妙見, "Great Myōken [Shrine] of Chiba"), Myōken Hongū (妙見本宮, the  ″Main Shrine ("Hongū") of Myōken″), or simply as Myōken-sama (妙見様). Deities. The shrine's main deity is the god Ame-no-Minakanushi under the name 'Hokushin Myōken Sonjō-Ō' (北辰妙見尊星王, lit. "Venerable Star King Myōken of the North Star ("Hokushin")"). The shrine's auxiliary deities are: Background. Chiba Shrine was originally a temple to the Buddhist divinity Myōken (Sanskrit: Sudṛṣṭi, lit. "Wondrous Vision"), the deification of the Big Dipper and/or the northern pole star. The cult of Myōken is thought to have developed in China during the Tang period, when Taoist Big Dipper and pole star worship was adopted  into Buddhism. It was then introduced into Japan somewhere during the 7th century by immigrants ("toraijin") from Goguryeo and Baekje. Myōken worship flourished in the eastern half of the country (the modern Kantō and Tōhoku regions) - where the "toraijin" were resettled during the reign of Emperor Tenji (reigned 661–672 CE) - and was quite prevalent among many clans based in this area such as the Chiba and the Sōma clans. Temples and shrines to Myōken were especially numerous in former Chiba territories. The relationship between Myōken and the Chiba clan is traditionally traced back to the clan's ancestor, , the uncle  of Taira no Masakado. Legend states that when Yoshifumi and his nephew was about to lose a battle against Yoshifumi's elder brother (father of Taira no Sadamori) at the Someya River (染谷川, "Someyagawa") in Kōzuke Province (modern Gunma Prefecture), they were rescued by Myōken, the deity of nearby Sokusai-ji (息災寺, modern in Takasaki, Gunma). After reaching safety, Yoshifumi went to this temple to express his gratitude and took one of the seven statues of Myōken enshrined there with him. This image was passed down to his descendants, who venerated Myōken as their patron deity. When the Meiji government  enforced the separation of Shinto and Buddhism in the late 19th century, many shrines that venerated Buddhist figures or deities of mixed heritage either changed or associated their deities to ones found in classical Japanese mythology as written in texts such as the "Kojiki" and the "Nihon Shoki". Many places of worship dedicated to Myōken thus began to identify their deity as Ame-no-Minakanushi, a primordial deity who (like Myōken) came to be identified with the pole star and the Big Dipper. History. According to tradition, the Buddhist temple Hokutosan Kongōju-ji (北斗山金剛授寺) was founded in the thirteenth day  of the ninth month of the year 1000 (Chōhō 2) by the monk Kakusan (覚算), a son of Taira no Tadatsune (the paternal grandson of Yoshifumi), who then became its first abbot (大僧正 "daisōjō" or 座主 "zasu"). The temple was built at the command of Emperor Ichijō (reigned 986-1011) in thanksgiving for his recovery from an eye disease. In 1126 (Daiji 1), Tadatsune's great-great-grandson Taira no Tsuneshige transferred his clan's power base from in Kazusa Province (modern Ōji-chō, Midori-ku, Chiba City) to a located about a kilometer south of Kongōju-ji, situated in  a natural plateau known as Mount Inohana (modern Inohana, Chūō-ku). During the transfer, the clan shrine to Myōken which enshrined the image supposedly brought by Yoshifumi from Sokusai-ji situated within the castle precincts was merged into the temple complex. Myōken Taisai (the "Great Festival of Myōken"), the temple's (and later, the shrine's) annual festival, was first held in 1127, the year after the clan - now calling itself 'Chiba' - moved to Inohana Castle, and has continued uninterrupted for nearly nine centuries since. As the Chiba's seat of power, the area surrounding the castle and the temple , Chiba Manor (, "Chiba-no-shō"), began to prosper during this period. During the Genpei War (1180–1185), the Chiba clan, headed by Tsuneshige's son , chose to side with Minamoto no Yoritomo against Taira no Kiyomori. Yoritomo himself is said to have visited the temple on his way to Kamakura in 1180. After Kiyomori's defeat, the clan was rewarded large domains throughout Japan. Myōken's cult spread to these areas as a result. By the Muromachi period, a series of external and internal conflicts had severely weakened the Chiba. In 1455, (son of 14th clan head and brother of 15th  head ) overthrew the clan's main branch, then led by his nephew , and assumed leadership, only to be defeated and killed under the orders of "shōgun" Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Inohana Castle was abandoned in the aftermath of this conflict, with the Chiba (now under Yasutane's son ) moving this time to another castle located in what is now the city of Sakura. The clan head's coming-of-age ceremony, however, was still held at Kongōju-ji, showing the continued esteem with which the temple was held. In 1591 (Tenshō 19), Kongōju-ji received donations of land from Tokugawa Ieyasu, who  also conferred to it the special privilege of direct audience with the "shōgun" (normally a prerogative of the "shōgun"'s direct vassals, the "fudai daimyō" and the "hatamoto"). The temple subsequently became known as 'Myōken-ji' (妙見寺) during the Edo period. In 1869 (Meiji 2), as a result of the edicts that called for the separation of Buddhism and Shinto, the temple - which featured a combination of both - was turned into a purely Shinto institution and renamed "Chiba Shrine", with its deity Myōken reidentified as Ame-no-Minakanushi. In 1874 (Meiji 7), Chiba Shrine was raised to the rank of  prefectural shrine or "kensha" (県社). In the same year, the shrine caught fire and burned to the ground. It was immediately rebuilt, but was again destroyed by fire in 1904 (Meiji 37). Reconstruction of the ruined edifices was finished ten years later, in 1914 (Taishō 4). The shrine was destroyed a third time during the bombing of Chiba in 6-7 July, 1945 (Shōwa 20) in the closing stages of World War II. It was rebuilt after the war and was completed in 1954 (Shōwa 29). In 1990 (Heisei 2), the entire Chiba Shrine complex was renovated on a grand  scale. The "Sonjōden" (尊星殿), the shrine compound's main gate, was completed in 1998 (Heisei 10). Structures. Auxiliary shrines. Chiba Shrine's auxiliary shrines ("massha") are as follows: In addition to the above, historical records also refer to shrines to (清瀧大権現, the patron goddess of Daigo-ji in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto) and Marīcī (摩利支天 "Marishiten"), as well as a sanctuary dedicated to seven important personages related to the Chiba clan known as 'Sōdai-Shichisha Daimyōjin' (惣代七社大明神) within the temple complex.