Itsukushima Shrine

Timeline

1. 593

   Founding

   In the first year of Empress Suiko's reign, the chieftain Saeki Kuramoto receives an oracle and builds a hall at Mikasa-no-hama dedicated to Ichikishimahime no mikoto.

2. 811

   Listed as Myojin

   The shrine appears for the first time in court records as 'Itsukishima-no-kami', formally recognised by the imperial court as a great myojin shrine.

3. 1168

   Kiyomori's Reconstruction

   Taira no Kiyomori, governor of Aki, expands the precinct with priest Saeki Kagehiro into the sea-borne form known today, making it the Heike clan's shrine.

4. 1207

   Ken'ei Fire

   A great fire destroys the entire complex in the Ken'ei era, marking the beginning of a long decline after the fall of the Heike.

5. 1241

   Ninji Reconstruction

   Reconstruction following the second fire of 1223 is completed; the principal extant buildings stem directly from this Ninji-era effort.

6. 1555

   Battle of Miyajima

   Mori Motonari defeats Sue Harukata in the Battle of Miyajima and takes the island, restoring the shrine and ushering in renewed patronage.

7. 1571

   Honden Rebuilt

   Mori Motonari rebuilds the honden in the Genki era after the Wachi brothers' killing of 1569 ritually pollutes the hall, retaining Heian-period proportions.

8. 1875

   Present Torii Built

   The current eighth-generation torii, hewn from a single camphor tree and standing about 16 meters tall, is erected and becomes the shrine's signature.

9. 1952

   National Treasure Designation

   Six structures including the honden, heiden, haiden and Marodo Shrine are designated National Treasures under the postwar cultural-property system.

10. 1991

    Typhoon 19 Damage

    The Important Cultural Property Noh stage collapses and bark roofs are torn open by Typhoon Mireille, exposing the vulnerability of the sea-borne complex.

11. December 1996

    World Heritage Inscription

    Itsukushima is inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, recognising its singular fusion of sea, mountain and architecture as a sacred whole.

Detailed History

Itsukushima Shrine traces its founding to the first year of Empress Suiko's reign (593 CE), when the local chieftain Saeki Kuramoto built a hall at Mikasa-no-hama for the deity Ichikishimahime no mikoto. The shrine appears in the historical record in 811 CE as 'Itsukishima-no-kami', and the Heian-era Engishiki names it among the great myojin shrines of Aki Province; it became the ichinomiya (foremost shrine) of Aki, with the Saeki clan as hereditary priests. In 1168, while Taira no Kiyomori was governor of Aki, the priest Saeki Kagehiro and Kiyomori jointly raised the precinct to the scale that survives today, and the Heike clan adopted the shrine as their tutelary site. After the Heike's fall, fires in 1207 and 1223 burned the complex twice; the principal halls were rebuilt in 1241 and form the core of the present buildings. From the late Kamakura period priests and monks took up residence on what had been forbidden land. In 1555, Mori Motonari defeated Sue Harukata at the Battle of Miyajima and brought the island under Mori control, restoring the shrine; in 1571 the honden was rebuilt again — not after fire but to ritually purify the hall after the Wachi brothers were killed inside it during the conflict of 1569. Toyotomi Hideyoshi visited on his way west and commissioned the great Daikyo-do hall (today the Senjokaku). In the Edo period the Miyajima pilgrimage flourished. Under the Meiji shinbutsu-bunri policy the colorful lacquer was stripped down to plain wood and chigi finials added, but a personal appeal by the chief steward kept the buildings from being burned. The shrine was elevated to kokuhei chusha in 1871 and to kanpei chusha in 1911. In 1952 the honden, heiden, haiden and other halls (six in total) were designated National Treasures, and in December 1996, alongside the Horyu-ji area and Himeji Castle, Itsukushima joined Japan's first cultural sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Typhoons recur — 1991, 1999, 2004, 2012 each damaged outer halls — but the principal buildings, set on calculated foundations chosen by Kiyomori's generation, have not been submerged in 850 years.

Cultural Significance

Six halls are National Treasures, fourteen are Important Cultural Properties, and most of the precinct within the inner moat is a Special Historic Site — an unrivaled concentration for a complex built largely on the sea. The torii is among Japan's Three Great Torii, the hira-butai is among the Three Great Stages, and the chief priest is reckoned among the Three Great Daiguji. Miyajima itself joins Matsushima and Amanohashidate as one of Japan's Three Great Views, and the island has been worshiped as a kami in its own right since prehistory. The 1996 World Heritage inscription, paired with the Horyu-ji area and Himeji Castle, was Japan's first cultural listing; it cited the integration of mountain, sea and architecture as a singular expression of the 'island as god' belief. The shrine holds the Heike Nokyo (the Lotus Sutra dedicated by the Taira clan) and many other National Treasure objects, and stands at the heart of The Tale of the Heike. It has hosted productions for Akira Kurosawa films, served as the principal location for NHK's historical drama Taira no Kiyomori, and influenced Japanese literature for over a millennium.

Architectural Details

The main complex sits on the inland reach of the northwest-facing Arino-ura cove. The honden, heiden and haiden are joined as a single shed-roofed hall, fronted by a haraidono and the takabutai/hira-butai stages that extend on piers into the sea; the seaward tip, the hitasaki, lines up directly with the torii. The 260-meter East and West Corridors fold left and right from the haraidono and run to the Marodo subordinate shrine. Foundations are stone bases set on the shallow sea floor, with timber piles supporting the plank floors — the entire complex appears to float at high tide. Designs follow late-Heian shinden-zukuri precedent and although the present buildings are medieval rebuilds, scholars regard the scale and detailing as faithful to Kiyomori's era. Wooden piles are inspected and re-jointed periodically to handle saltwater rot. Roofs are entirely cypress-bark hiwadabuki: the honden uses a ryonagare style, the corridors a katanagare. According to architectural historian Masayuki Miura, the principal halls were placed on a position chosen to evade even a once-in-200-years storm tide.