Japan Guide
Western Honshū
Akama-jingū
This shrine is dedicated to Antoku, an 8-year-old emperor who drowned along with the Taira clan when they were routed in the naval battle of Dannoura. The clash took place in the straits overlooked by the striking vermilion, gold and pale-green shrine, originally built as a Buddhist temple to appease the souls of the dead Taira warriors, and known at the time as Amida-ji. When Shinto and Buddhism were separated in the Meiji period, the temple became a shrine and was renamed Akama-jingū.
The Chinese-style arched gate, Suite-mon, dates from 1958 when the shrine was rebuilt after being damaged in the war, and the courtyard beyond is the scene of the colourful Sentei Matsuri festival. Held on April 23–25, this festival is based around the legend that the surviving Taira women, who after their clan's defeat were forced to turn to prostitution, came to the shrine each year to purify themselves. In a small graveyard to the left of the courtyard are fourteen ancient graves for notable Taira warriors and a small statue of the blind and deaf priest, Hōichi Miminashi, the "earless Hōichi" in one of the Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn's most famous ghost stories. There's also a small museum of armour and scrolls, with an honesty box for the ¥100 donation requested for entry.