Kumano Nyakuoji-jinja Shrine

The deities enshrined here are Kunitokotachi (a primordial god representing the foundation of the land), Izanagi and Izanami (the husband-and-wife deities who created the islands of Japan), and Amaterasu (the sun goddess).
The shrine’s history dates back to 1160, when Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa ceremonially transferred the deities of Kumano Gongen here to guard Zenrin-ji temple (Eikan-do). The shrine’s name comes from Nyakuichi-Oji, an alternative name of Amaterasu. Along with being a popular worship site for the Muromachi shogunate and samurai class, it was also famous for its flower-viewing: a flower-viewing party was held here in March 1465 by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. The shrine halls fell into disrepair after the Onin War, but were restored by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the grounds were laid out.
The current shrine hall was rebuilt into a single hall enshrining multiple deities in 1979, but before that, there were four: the Main Hall, the New Hall, the Nachi Hall, and the Wakamiya Hall.
The grounds also contain a sub-shrine venerating an image of Ebisu (Ebisugawa-Ebisu-sha), and on the peak of Mt. Nyakuoji, rising behind the shrine, is the grave of Joseph Hardy Neesima (Niijima Jo), founder of Doshisha English School (later Doshisha University).
There is a sacred Asian bayberry tree on the grounds. Leaves from this tree were used as purification charms to wash away sins when making pilgrimages to the three famous shrines of Kumano or the Ise Grand Shrine. The shrine’s crest depicts the three-legged crow Yatagarasu—who guided Japan’s legendary first emperor, Jinmu, to the land of Yamato—proffering an Asian bayberry leaf.
Kyoto City