#hachiman-gu

[postcard-from-the-past]

Rōmon Gate at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū Shrine in Kamakura, Japan

Japanese vintage postcard

[momo2]

Hachiman-gu at dusk.

[todayintokyo]

Torii at Setagaya Hachiman-gū (世田谷八幡宮)

[todayintokyo]

All Hachiman-gū shrines are dedicated to Hachiman, the god of war and archery, but Ana Hachiman-gū (穴八幡宮) in Waseda has particularly close links to yabusame, or horseback archery: in 1728, Tokugawa Yoshimune ordered the shrine to practice yabusame as a prayer to heal his sick son [x]. The shrine continues the ritual: every year on Sports Day (the second Monday in October), archers and their horses parade through the area and then have a contest in nearby Toyama Park. You can see a statue of an archer at the shrine's entrance, and two horse statues in its main gate.

[thekimonogallery]

Red corridor at Tsuruoka Hachiman-gu shrine, Kamakura, Japan鶴岡八幡宮　鎌倉.  Photography by m-shima on Ganref