Dairokuten Jinja (第六天神社)

Dairokuten Jinja (第六天神社)

Dairokuten Jinja from National Route 1

There is a Shinto shrine called Dairokuten Jinja (第六天神社), standing along National Route 1, in the Jukkenzaka District of Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.

It is unclear when the shrine was founded.  The name of the shrine first appears in Shinpen Sagami-no-kuni Fudokiko, a geographic guidebook of Sagami Province completed in 1841.  It is said the shrine was founded during the early Edo period.  However, some say the shrine was presumably founded during the Kamakura period since the name of the area, Jukkenzaka, appears in Azuma Kagami, a historical chronicle written on events related to the Kamakura shogunate from 1180 to 1266.

Cenotaph honoring those who served and died in all the wars from the Russo-Japanese War to World War II

洗心 Monument

The deity originally enshrined was Takejizaiten (他化自在天), more commonly called Dairokuten-mao (第六天魔王), the demon king of the Sixth Heaven in Buddhism.  When the Meiji Government ordered the separation of Shintoism and Buddhism, the amatsukami (天津神) of Omodaru-no-Mikoto (淤母陀琉命) and Imoayakashikone-no-Mikoto (妹阿夜訶志古泥命) were enshrined since they have been identified as Dairokuten-mao during the days of shinbutsu-shugo.

The stone monument, engraved "洗心," states the current temizu-ya used to be a belfry, but the bell was taken out during World War II.  The belfry was later moved to its current location.

Temizu-ya (left) and haiden (right) of Dairokuten Jinja

Yasaka Jinja

Yasaka Jinja (八坂神社)

Between the temizu-ya and haiden of Dairokuten Jinja is the subordinate shrine of Yasaka Jinja (八坂神社) enshrining Susanoo-no-Mikoto (須佐之男命).

Dairokuten-san no Kuromatsu

The Goshinboku "Dairokuten-san no Kuromatsu (第六天さんの黒松)"

Behind the shrine building of Dairokuten Jinja is a pine tree, called "Dairokuten-san no Kuromatsu (第六天さんの黒松)," which is the goshinboku of the shrine.

In the old days, the tree served as a landmark among the fishermen out at sea.  Between 1945 and 1954 (some sources say during the 1940's), lightning struck the tree causing it to break from the middle.