Hakozaki-Gu Shrine

Hakozaki-Gu shrine （箱崎宮）is located in Fukuoka, the biggest city in Kyushu Island in Japan. The main enshrined god is the 15th Emperor Oujin (応神天皇）, his mother-the Empress Jingu（神功皇后） and Tamayori-hime（玉依姫）, the mother of the first Emperor Jinmu are co-enshrined in the alter. Legendarily, the empress Jingu gave a birth to the emperor Oujin in the current Fukuoka area on her way to Korean peninsula to conquer the nations there.

The emperor has been famous as a warrior deity and the three deities enshrined are collectedly called "Yawata-no-kami（八幡神）" and was believed as a deity who gives warriors guards and triumphs in wars. Therefore, the shrine attracted many famous samurai heroes and they visited the shrine in search of the deity's divine power. Due to this history, Hakozaki-Gu shrine became one of the biggest shrines in Japan. Especially, this shrine is said to be one of the three biggest shrines for Yawata-no-kami in Japan.

The origin is still unclear but one of the oldest historical materials indicates that the Emperor Daigo（醍醐天皇） donated his autograph "敵国降伏" (the enemy nations will surrender)" to the shrine and built such a wonderful building for the deity in 921 AD. It means that the shrine is at least 1,092 years old. After that, some emperors donated their autographs in which the same "敵国降伏" was written for gaining the deity's power. The autograph frame hanged on the main gate in front of the alter-building was written by the Grand emperor Kemeyama（亀山上皇）when the shrine was being rebuilt after destruction by the Mongolia's attack. As a memorial for this Kameyama's support, there is a big bronze statue of the Grand emperor in a part of this shrine.

When Kublai Khan, the Mongolian king who founded the Yuan Dynasty in China, sent his troupes to North Kyushu to invade Japan, a big cloudburst struck his army who was ready to land in Japan. The storm swept the Mongolian warriors away, destroyed their ships. The Mongolians tried to invade Japan twice in the shitory but the storm actually fended off the two invasion attempts and people thought that it was power of the Yawata-no-kami. Since then, the deity became famous for its divinity to get rid of unluckiness and to win a battle.

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