| Ōmiwa jinja 大神神社 | |
|---|---|
 Largetorii in front of Mount Miwa | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Shinto |
| Deity | Ōmononushi Ōnamuchi Sukunahikona-no-kami Mount Miwa |
| Location | |
| Location | 1422 Miwa,Sakurai-shi,Nara-ken |
  Shown within Japan | |
| Geographic coordinates | 34°31′44″N135°51′10″E / 34.52889°N 135.85278°E /34.52889; 135.85278 |
| Website | |
| www | |
 Glossary of Shinto | |
Ōmiwa Shrine (大神神社,Ōmiwa-jinja), also known asMiwa Shrine (三輪神社,Miwa-jinja, alternately written asMiwa-myōjin (三輪明神)), is aShinto shrine located inSakurai,Nara Prefecture,Japan.[1] The shrine is notable because it contains no sacred images or objects, since it is believed to serveMount Miwa, the mountain on which it stands.[2] For the same reason, it has a worship hall (拝殿,haiden), but no place for the deity to be housed (神殿,shinden). In this sense, it is a model of what the first Shinto shrines were like.[3] Ōmiwa Shrine is one of the oldest extant Shinto shrines in Japan and the site has been sacred ground for some of theearliest religious practices in Japan. Because of this, it has sometimes been named as Japan's first shrine. Ōmiwa Shrine is a tutelary shrine of the Japanesesake brewers.[4]
Ōmiwa Shrine's history is closely related to Mount Miwa and the religious practices surrounding the mountain. In the earlyKofun period, Yamato kings and leaders had shifted their attention tokami worship on Mount Miwa, and Ōmiwa Shrine was the major institution for this branch of worship.[5] The style of Shinto surrounding Miwa became later known as Miwa Shinto and is set apart from previous practices by a more structured theological philosophy.
The shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the earlyHeian period.[6] In 965,Emperor Murakami ordered that Imperial messengers be sent to report important events to the guardiankami of Japan. Theseheihaku were initially presented to 16 shrines, including Ōmiwa.[7]
Ōmiwa was designated as the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) for the formerYamato Province.[8]
From 1871 through 1946, Ōmiwa was officially designated one of theKanpei-taisha (官幣大社), meaning that it stood in the first rank among government supported shrines.[9]
The Ōmiwa Shrine is directly linked to Mount Miwa in that the mountain is the shrine'sshintai, or "kami-body", instead of a building housing a "kami-body". This type of mountain worship (shintai-zan) is found in the earliest forms ofShinto and has also been employed atSuwa Shrine inNagano, and formerly atIsonokami Shrine inNara andMunakata Shrine inFukuoka.
According to the chronicleNihon Shoki,Emperor Sujin appealed to Mount Miwa'skami when Japan was crippled byplague. In response, thekamiŌmononushi demanded rituals be performed for him at Mount Miwa. He then demanded that the rites be led byŌtataneko [ja], his half-kami, half-human son born from the union with a woman of theMiwa clan.Ōtataneko [ja] performed the rites to satisfaction, and the plague subsided. A building dedicated toŌtataneko [ja] was later erected in his honor.
A legendary white snake is said to live in around the shrine and is supposedly one of the kami worshiped there. Indeed, snakes and the snake cult figures importantly in the myths surrounding Mount Miwa as well as early Shinto in general.
The Ōmiwa shrine complex includes notable auxiliary shrines (setsumatsusha), including 12Sessha (摂社,auxiliary shrine) and 28massha (末社,branch shrine) which are marked by small structures falling under Ōmiwa's jurisdiction.[10] For example, thesesshaIkuhi jinja enshrines thekami who was appointed Ōmiwa's sake brewer in the 4th month of the 8th year of the reign ofEmperor Sujin. A poem associated with Ikuhi is said to have been composed byEmpress Jingū on the occasion of a banquet for her son,Emperor Ōjin:[11]
Hibara Shrine is asubshrine of Omiwa Shrine at the foot ofMount Miwa inSakurai,Nara Prefecture. The shrine is identified as the place where theYata-no-Kagami and theKusanagi-no-Tsurugi were first enshrined after they were removed from the imperial palace. It is the first of manyMoto-Ise [ja] shrines.[12][13][14] Amaterasu was originally enshrined there before eventually moving to other Moto-Ise shrines and then finally toIse Jingu.[14] It has anIwakura rock and a Shinza made ofSakaki wood.[14]
It has a prominent unique closable tripletorii gate.[12]
Ōmiwa Shrine is situated in a quiet forest and built directly in front of Mount Miwa. An ancientJapanese cedar tree (Cryptomeria) can be found on shrine compound and is considered sacred. The shrine hasMount Miwa as itsShintai, as aKannabi and does not have ahonden.[15]
Decorations in the form ofBorromean rings are found throughout the shrine's buildings. This ornamentation symbolizes the three rings, as "Miwa" is written with thekanji for "three" (三) and "ring" (輪).
Built in 1984, at 32 m thetorii on itssandō is the second highest in Japan.[4] The shrine also has a greatshime torii, an ancient form of gate made only with two posts and a rope calledshimenawa. It is one of few shrines that has a "triple-torii" (miwa torii) on its grounds. This gate is also one of the few to actually have doors, which bar access to the mountain it enshrines.[4]
The buildings at Ōmiwa Shrine are a mix of structures built from ancient times to theEdo period.
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