Kotohira-gū

Haiden of main shrine (本宮 *hon-gū*), Kotohira Shrine

Kotohira-gū (金刀比羅宮) (also known as Konpira-dai-gongen (金比羅大権現), Konpira-san (こんぴらさん), or Konpira Shrine in English) is a Shintō shrine in the town of Kotohira in Nakatado District of Kagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Located at 521m halfway to the top of Mount Zōzu, the shrine stands at the end of a long path, with 785 steps to the main shrine and a total of 1,368 steps to the inner shrine. Since the Muromachi Period pilgrimages to the shrine became popular, and even today usually hundreds of visitors in a day climb the steps of Mount Zōzu. On the way to the shrine is located a sake museum, various stores selling a variety of goods, and there are lots of stones in which are the names of donators to the shrine carved in kanji-characters. Due to the Honji suijaku theory which claimed the local kami were incarnations of Buddhist gods, Kotohira shrine was in times prior to the Meiji era equally a Buddhist and a Shintoist sanctuary.

History

It is said to have been founded during the 1st century.^{[citation needed]}

The principal kami of the shrine used to be Ō-mono-nushi-no-mikoto, a spirit associated with seafaring (also referred to as the Buddhist deity Konpira), but Ō-mono-nushi-no-mikoto was replaced by the spirit of Sutoku-Tennō in 1165.

Prior to the Meiji period it was known as Konpira-Daigongen (金比羅大権現), and it stood at the head of the nationwide group of shrines bearing the names Kompira and Kotohira. The ema hall is the site of prayers for safe seafaring.

From 1871 through 1946, Kotohira was officially designated one of the Kokuhei Chūsha (国幣中社), meaning that it stood in the mid-range of ranked, nationally significant shrines.

Treasures

Kompira Shrine has several Important Cultural Properties, including a Heian period statue of the eleven-faced Kannon Bosatsu, and four ink paintings by Maruyama Ōkyo.