From Toyokawa to Okazaki: "Mikawa Soja / Saimyo-ji / Sugimori Hachiman-sha / Yamanaka Hachiman-sha" [Aichi Series / Mikawa Series / Nagoya Series]
Shrines and temples visited by car on local roads from Toyokawa City to Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture. This article introduces fascinating spots in the Mikawa region, where history and culture breathe. In Toyokawa City, I visited Shiratori Shrine, the Soja (head shrine) of Mikawa Province, and Saimyo-ji Temple, which features a beautiful garden and a memorial tower for Dr. Erwin von Bälz. In Okazaki City, I went to Yamanaka Hachiman-gu Shrine, which is associated with Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is a place where Ieyasu prayed for victory in battle, and it is full of historical highlights, such as the "Hatogakutsu" (Pigeon Cave) where he is said to have escaped during the Mikawa Ikkō-ikki.
Change Log
2025/09/20: First edition
▼ Mikawa Soja (Mikawa Province Soja): 1 Kamigō-naka, Shiratori-chō, Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture
Chihayano-mikoto, the fifth-generation descendant of Izumo-no-iro-daijin-no-mikoto, was appointed as the Mikawa Province Governor and built the shrine buildings to enshrine his ancestral deity. This is considered the origin of Mikawa Soja.
There is the Shiratori Ruins (around Sogen-ji Temple), where the remains of the Mikawa provincial government office have been excavated.
Between the Taika Reform edict of 646 and the Taihō Code of 701, Japan established its national system and local administrative organizations.
The current East Mikawa and West Mikawa were unified into one province, Mikawa Province, and the Mikawa provincial government office was established to the east of this Soja.
It was customary for provincial governors sent from the capital to visit the shrines listed in the "Mikawa-no-kuni Jinmyōchō" (Register of Deities of Mikawa Province) to offer silk cloth, but since it was difficult to visit them all, they enshrined the 59 shrines from the "Mikawa-no-kuni Jinmyōchō" at this shrine.
However, it seems that Mikawa Ichinomiya, Togakushi Shrine (my NOTE), is not included.
It was during a complete festival, and according to a local resident, it happens once every 17 years. So, I visited the shrine grounds without getting in the way.
→ Mikawa Soja / Shiratori Shrine Annual Festival
→ Media Information
Anything after this will be added in the comments section below this NOTE.
▼ Saimyo-ji Temple: 7 Teramae, Yawata-chō, Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture
It was initially called "Rokko-ji Temple".
Between 985 and 987, Oe no Sadamoto, a provincial governor sent from Kyoto to Mikawa Province, fell in love with a young and beautiful girl named Rikuju in this area.
However, three years later, Rikuju passed away early due to illness.
Having lost Rikuju, Sadamoto felt the impermanence of the world, built a villa in a small, elevated forest a little away from the provincial government office where he worked, and lived there for about a year until he returned to the capital.
Because six lights appeared in the sky every night from that place, he named his residence "Rokko-ji" (Six-Light Temple).
After that, Sadamoto returned to the capital, leaving behind the statue of Aizen Myoo, and renounced his worldly life, abandoning his career as an official.
He devoted himself to training at Mount Hiei, the head temple of the Tendai sect (my NOTE), and came to be known as Jakusho.
While Hojo Tokiyori, who had renounced his position as the Shogunate's regent, was traveling through various provinces under the assumed name Saimyo-ji Nyudo, he grew fond of this place, and it was renamed Saimyo-ji.
In 1562, because they cooperated when Tokugawa Ieyasu went to battle in East Mikawa, Ieyasu renamed it Saiho (Western) after the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha, changing it to Saimyo-ji.
The current main hall was rebuilt in 1996, and a garden spreads out around it.
On the temple grounds, there is a memorial tower for Dr. Erwin von Baelz, a German doctor in the Meiji era who contributed to the development of modern Japanese medicine.
It is said that the connection is that the doctor's wife, Hana, was the daughter of an innkeeper at the nearby Goyu-juku, and Saimyo-ji was her family's ancestral temple.
→ Media Information
From here on, I will add updates in the comment section below this NOTE.
▼ Sugimori Hachiman-sha: 15 Nishinawate, Akasaka-cho, Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture
▼ Yamanaka Hachiman-jinja: 8 Miyashita, Maigi-cho, Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture
The enshrined deities are Emperor Ojin, Hime-Okami, Empress Jingu, and the Hachiman deity.
It is said that Ieyasu's father, Lord Hirotada, restored it.
When Ieyasu was 19, he stopped by to pray for victory during the "Odaka Castle Provisions Delivery," which led to the Battle of Okehazama.
In 1558, at the age of 17, Tokugawa Ieyasu prayed for victory at this shrine before his first battle, attacking Suzuki Hyuga-no-kami, the lord of Mikawa Terube Castle.
There is a "Hato-ga-kutsu" (Pigeon Cave) where it is said that Ieyasu hid and escaped danger when he was chased by followers during the Mikawa Ikkō-ikki in 1563.
In 1597, Ieyasu ordered Ishikawa Kazumasa and Sakai Toshishiro to build the gate and construct the shrine buildings of Yamanaka Hachiman-gu.
It is said that in 1634, when Tokugawa Iemitsu visited Kyoto, he paid a visit to Yamanaka Hachiman-gu and gave permission for the use of the Aoi crest for the Toshogu shrine merger.
On the grounds, there is the "Go-kaiun-take" (Good Fortune Bamboo), which is said to have grown from an arrow Ieyasu stuck into the ground.
"Dendengassari," a rice-planting ritual held every year on January 3rd.
Due to time constraints, I finished my visit at the entrance. I think I might go again.
→Media Information
Any further updates will be added in the comment section below this NOTE.
▼Travelogue▼ Places to visit together
◆Aichi 7◆ Shrines and Temples of Toyokawa and Okazaki and the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium [Aichi Series / Mikawa Series / Nagoya Series] | Yanmaa @ Travelogue
Future travelogues will be listed next.
Shrines and temples in Aichi will be added to the following magazine.
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