Futarasan shrine

The kami enshrined at Nikkō Futarasan Jinja are: • , god of nation-building, agriculture, medicine, and protective magic • , one of the three Munakata goddesses • , god of agriculture and thunder ==Overview==

The precincts of the shrine include eight peaks of the Nikkō Mountains (Mt. Nantai, Mt. Nyōhō, Mt. Tarō, Mt. Oku-Shirane, Mt. Maeshirane, Mt. Omanago, Mt. Komanako, Mt.Akanagi) as well as the Kegon Falls. It covers 3,400 hectares, which is second only to the Ise Grand Shrine in area. The main shrine is located to the west of Nikkō Tōshō-gū where it was relocated to in 1617. The current shrine buildings date from that reconstruction. 11 buildings in the complex, including the Honden, Haiden are designated as national Important Cultural Properties. The Middle Shrine is located on the shore of Lake Chuzenji. It was built in 1096. The current buildings were reconstructed in 1699. Seven buildings in the complex including the main shrine are designated as national Important Cultural Properties. The Oku-no-miya is located at the summit of Mount Nantai and was founded in 782. Archaeologists have found relics and ritual instruments from the Nara period confirming the site's age, and many of these artifacts have been designated national Important Cultural Properties. ==History==

The shrine was founded in 767 by Shōdō Shōnin (勝道上人), a Kegon school Buddhist priest who sought a training ground in the northern mountainous area of Shimotsuke Province. The area had been sacred since at least the Yayoi period as Mount Nantai (also called ) was a sacred mountain worshipped as a (a yorishiro housing the enshrined kami), as it supplied streams of water, and therefore life, to the plains below, where people lived. The mountain was the center of this ancient mountain cult, which merged with the Buddhist Shugendō religion. The shrine suffered during the Sengoku period as many of its estates were seized by the Late Hōjō clan and later by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The construction of the Nikkō Tōshō-gū in the early Edo Period resulted in the reconstruction of the shrine by Tokugawa Hidetada and support of the shrine by many daimyō and members of the nobility. From 1871 the shrine was officially designated under Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrinesin State Shinto. In 1998, the grounds of the shrine were included within the National Historic Site designation the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō, which gained World Heritage Site designation the following year. == Sacred Bridge ==

The crossing the Daiya River belongs to the Futarasan Shrine. This beautiful vermilion lacquered structure is known as one of the three most beautiful bridges in Japan and is a gateway for Nikko. The bridge was registered as a World Heritage in December 1999. The Shinkyo measures 28 meters long, 7.4 meters wide, and stands 10.6 meters above the Daiya River. According to legend, a priest named Shōdō and his followers climbed Mt. Nantai in the year 766 to pray for national prosperity. They could not cross the fast flowing Daiya River. Shōdō prayed and a 10 foot tall god named Jinja-Daiou appeared with two snakes twisted around his right arm. Jinja-Daiou released the blue and red snakes and they transformed themselves into a rainbow-like bridge covered with sedge, which Shōdō and his followers could use to cross the river. That is why this bridge is sometimes called Yamasugeno-jabashi, which means the "Snake Bridge of Sedge". The Shinkyō has been rebuilt many times but has followed the same design pattern since 1636, when it could be used only by messengers of the Imperial court. It has been opened to the general public since 1973. == Photo gallery ==

Image:Nikko Futarasan Jinja M3292.jpg|Haiden Image:Nikko Futarasan Jinja Mikoshi M3299.jpg|Building housing mikoshi Image:Nikko Futarasan Jinja Hie Jinja M3294.jpg|Hie Shrine Image:Nikko Futarasan Chinese Lantern M3301.jpg|Chinese-style lantern, the Bake-doro ("Ghost Lantern") Image:Nikko Futarasan Daikoku M3303.jpg|Daikoku-den 大黒殿 Image:Nikko Futarasan Jinja Mitomo Jinja M3310.jpg|Mitomo Jinja Image:Nikko Futarasan Jinja M3331.jpg|Other buildings at Futarasan Shrine Image:Nikko Futarasan Gate M3287.jpg|The gate leads to the precincts of the shrine File:Mount nantai and lake chuzenji.jpg|Mount Nantai == See also ==