History
Kasuga jinja Shrine was the overall tutelary shrine(so-ubusuna-sha)of the Haruki
manor in the Kasuga Taisha estate in Nara, and the gods Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto,
Futsunushi-no-mikoto, Amenokoyane-no-mikoto, and Hime-okami are enshrined
there. The origins of the shrine can be traced back to the Mononobefuru
Shrine, enshrining the ancestor of Karakuni no Muraji, who was based in
Karakuni. At the beginning of the Heian period, the shrine is said to have
been moved when people from Karakuni settled in the Haruki region, and
in the Kamakura manuscript Izumi no kuni jinmei cho the name Jugoijo Mononobe-sha Shrine appears. Mononobe Shrine is located
in the sub-shrine (sessha) Wakamiya Shrine, and during the Edo period was worshipped by the villages
of Haruki, Hisai, Wakakashi, Uchida, Karakuni, and Harukigawa. The main
shrine of Kasuga Shrine is seen for the first time in records from the
Tenbun era (1532-1554) , and was worshipped by the two villages of Haruki
and Hisai.
Within the precincts of Kasuga shrine is an attached Buddhist temple called Fuyu-do
Sofuku-ji because of the legend that Kobo Daishi Kukai spent a winter there.
This temple was abolished at the time of the anti-Buddhist movement (haibutsu Kishaku) of the Meiji period, but the bell from the temple dated Bunei 2 (1265)
is currently at Hokushin Myoken Shrine in Katsuragi-cho, Wakayama.
With the shrine amalgamation at the end of the Meiji era, the Shrines of Haruki,
Hisai, Wakakashi, Uchida, Karakuni, and Harukigawa, along with those of
Matsuodera in Minami-Matsuo village, Migata and Terada in Kita-Matsuo village,
and Wake and Oda in Kokufu village were amalgamated with Kasuga Shrine.
Later the two shrines of Wake and Oda were Amalgamated with Izumi-Inoue
Shrine, and afterwards as the tutelary shrine of Kita- and Minami-Matsuo,
Kasuga Shrine was the focus of worship in those areas.
The Chinese black pine and Camellia in the precincts are registered as Natural
Monuments of Osaka Prefecture, and are both estimated as being around 300
years old.
Access
From JR/Izumifuchu Station,take a bus bound for Harukigawa
or Wakakashi and get off at"Kasugajinjamae".
(It's a 40minutes bus ride.)
From Senboku Rapid Railway/Izumichuo Station,take a bus bound for Harukigawa
or Wakakashi and get off at"Kasugajinjamae"
(It's a 20minutes bus ride.)
Inquiries
609-2 Haruki-cho,Izumicity,Osaka,Japan
Tel. (0725)54-0352
Fax.(0725)54-0352