Akihasan Hongū Akiha Jinja

Akihasan Hongū Akiha Jinja 秋葉山本宮秋葉神社
Honden of Akihasan Hongū Akiha Jinja
Information
Type	Akiha shrine
Dedicated to	Hinokagutsuchi-no-Okami
Founded	701
Address	Haruno, Tenryū-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
Website	www.akihasanhongu.jp
Glossary of Shinto

The Akihasan Hongū Akiha Jinja (秋葉山本宮秋葉神社) is a Shinto shrine in Tenryū-ku, Hamamatsu (the former town of Haruno in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan). The shrine is located near the summit of Mount Akiha, on the southern slopes of the Akaishi Mountains. It is the head shrine of the 800 Akiha shrines around the country.

The main festival of the shrine is held annually over three nights in December, and features ceremonies using huge flares and other fireworks.

The primary kami of Akibasan Hongū Akiba Jinja is the Hinokagutsuchi-no-Okami (火之迦具土大神), the kami associated with protection against fires. During the Edo period, this kami was popularly called the Akiha Gongen (秋葉権現) and was identified with Kannon Bosatsu under the Shinbutsu shūgō system of combined Buddhism and Shinto.

Per shrine tradition, the Akibasan Hongū Akiha Jinja was established in 701 as a Buddhist temple by the famed priest Gyōki. It was named Akiha-dera (秋葉寺) from a poem written by Emperor Saga in 709. During the Heian period it became a center for the Shugendō cult and was associated with the Shingon sect, although much of its subsequent history is uncertain.

After the start of the Tokugawa bakufu, retired Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the temple to convert to the Sōtō Zen sect. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi in particular favored its blend of Shinto, Buddhism and Shugendō, and promoted the spread of the Akiha cult throughout the country to provide protection against fires. Despite its remote mountain location, the temple became a popular pilgrimage detour from the Tōkaidō for pilgrims on their way to Ise Shrine or Kompira Shrine, or on their way back to Edo.