Kashima Shrine

Difficult to make an article about Kashima Shrine without mentioning Hagiwara-san. This fantastic person was all over the place to explain so many different worshipping traditions and other Shinto-related aspects. In the end, I could not tell if I was more impressed by the communicative passion of Hagiwara-san or his knowledge. Oh, of course he told us about Kashima shrine. Where to start, where to start? What about the entrance?

The main temple

The main gate, Cherry-Tree Gate (桜門or Sakura-Mon) was donated by Tokugawa Yorifusa (徳川頼房) father of Lord Mito Koumon (水戸黄門), and is one of the biggest of its kind in Japan. The whole area of Kashima Shrine can welcome 8 Tōkyō Domes. It is a little nature paradise in the middle of the city. As soon as you penetrate the domain, car sounds strangely disappear, probably stifled by the presence of gigantic trees. One of them was planted between 1200 or 1300 years ago, during Nara era. This tree is sacred and is called as such (神木 or Shinboku). Just looking at it makes you realize how old the shrine is. This living proof is so big that it is said to be about the size of 8 tatami (8畳). How big is your home ? It is usually impossible to see the tree but Hasegawa-san was kind enough to show it to us. It stands behind the very first temple on your right when you enter. It has resisted all storms so far but to prevent it from falling on the "important cultural property" that is this main temple (本殿or Honden), it is maintained with very discreet cables all around. The main temple was donated by Tokugawa Hidetada (徳川秀忠), the second Shogun of Tokugawa Shogunate, in year 1619. The Inner Temple, Oku-No-Miya (奥宮) was donated by Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康), the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, in 1615. Along with the main gate and the main temple, it is considered as an "important cultural asset".

The shrine is dedicated to Takemikazuchi-No-Okami (武甕槌大神), a god of peace and martial valor. In the Mythological Age, the god descended to the Izumo District of Japan Okuninushi-No-Mikoto (大国主命)had ruled according to the order of Amaterasu Omikami (天照大神) or the Sun goddess (the ancestral goddess of Emperor of Japan) and unified Japan together with Okuninushi-No-Mikoto in obedience to the direction of Amaterasu-Omikami. After unifying Japan, he traveled throughout the country and finally settled down in Kashima, an important center of land and water traffic to work for the development and management of the Kanto district. In Kashima, his was enshrined as a strong god of peace.

Kashima, if you don't know the meaning of the Kanji, is composed of Shima (島, island) and Ka (鹿, deer). If you go through the domain of Kashima shrine, you indeed see deer behind a fence, the same breed that freely walks among tourists in Nara.

Here is something interesting about Kashima deer. A long time ago, there were plenty of deer in the forest. But they started to reproduce too fast and too many, causing great damage to the nature, eating everything around; and becoming dangerous to humans. Local people could not go anymore into the forest without the fear of being accidentally killed by one of them. So, it was decided one day to sort of eradicate them to preserve the nature and the security of Kashima locals. People managed to keep deer for traditional religious tool making and for divination. But at one point of Kashima shrine history, the remaining deer got sick and all died. Not one could be found in the forest. So how did they get a new flock of deer? Well, when Nara was capital of Japan, deer had been borrowed from Kashima area. And eventually, Kashima Shrine had to re-import their own deer from Nara to maintain the divinatory and tool making traditions.

What was the use of the deer ? With a deer shoulder, one could supposedly read the future. While still alive, deer's backs would be used for transporting the imperial symbol from Nara to the East, Kashima, where God descended on earth for the first time. The sacred in the deer can be found in the local soccer team as well. The team logo is a deer, and the team is called Kashima Antlers. Team players coming to the shrine and get more spiritual strength is not rare, according to Hagiwara-san.

Wrestling with a catfish

On a completely unrelated subject, you will get to see far in the back of the domain, by trees and quite paths, a representation of a very interesting superstition that local people had for a long time before science was brought to them. There is a story of a pond in which was living a catfish（鯰, Namazu）It was believed that every time the fish crazily moved in the pond, it would provoke an earthquake. However we know today that it was already feeling the beginning of the earthquake, not creating it.

Kashima Jingu holds also a great national treasure. This is known as the Chokuto（直刀）, a straight sword of 2.71 meters!!!! It is a very valuable asset, a proof of technical mastery. According to the legend, this is a wondrous sword that only God could supposedly use. Besides the sword, other old war gear, pottery and drawings are displayed. It is a small museum but every little object inside is a real treasure, the Chokuto being the masterpiece of the show.

This article may seem very fragmentary to you, but there is so much to say about this shrine that we are in trouble sorting out THE info you would appreciate the most. So, I suggest you simply go there, and if you can speak Japanese, do not hesitate to ask for further explanation about not so clear details we gave you. After all, it is up to you now to get your own experience of Kashima Jingu (鹿島神宮), as it is called in Japanese. Personally, I think it is a great place to find quietness and fresh air since it is located in an "amajingu" nature haven.