Tanzan Shrine

Tanzan Shrine 談山神社
Pagoda of Tanzan Shrine
Information
Dedicated to	Fujiwara no Kamatari
Founded	678
Founder(s)	Jo'e
Address	319 Tōnomine, Sakurai-shi, Nara-ken 〒633-0032
Website	www.tanzan.or.jp
Glossary of Shinto

Tanzan Shrine (談山神社, Tanzan-jinja^?), also known as the Danzan Shrine, the Tōnomine Shrine (多武峯社, Tōnomine-sha^?) and the Tōnomine Temple (多武峯寺, Tōnomine-ji^?), is a Shinto shrine in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan.

The shrine traces its origin to a Tendai temple built in the Asuka period (538 – 710) called Tōnomine-ji, built by the monk Jo'e (643 – 666). Jo'e was the oldest son of Fujiwara no Kamatari (614 – 669), founder of the Fujiwara clan. Jo'e located the temple on Tōnomine, a peak of on the southern side of Mount Goharetsu (619 metres (2,031 ft)). Jo'e moved the remains of Kamatari to a 13-story pagoda on the site. The emperors Daigo (884 – 930) and Go-Hanazono (1419 – 1471) attached special reverence to the temple, and bestowed it with various honorifics.

Under shinbutsu-shūgō, a system of syncretism of Buddhism and kami worship, the site was both a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple. The Tanzan Shrine and Tōnomine-ji coexisted on the same site. Tōnomine-ji had two subtemples located within its precincts, Myōraku-ji and Shōryō-in (聖霊院^?). The shrine received significant financial support from the Tokugawa bakufu during the Edo period (1603 – 1868).