Yawata Hitomaru Shrine

Hachimangu Shrine (Note 1), located on the newly-named Mount Misasaki, and Hitomaru Shrine (Note 2), located on Mount Yumigemba, were enshrined together in December 1907 and moved to this shrine building on the same day, and renamed to the present shrine name. The deities enshrined at the shrine are Emperors Eishin, Nakai, and Nintoku, as well as Kakinomoto Hitomaro, a representative poet of the Manyoshu (Japan's oldest anthology of poetry). The deity protects agriculture, commerce, industry, fisheries, prosperity, academic achievement, good luck and bad luck, longevity, matchmaking, traffic safety, and fire prevention. The grounds of the shrine are home to a classic tree garden created in 1914, containing 480 trees and plants of approximately 180 species and 40 flocks of trees and plants that appear in Japanese classics before the Muromachi period (1333-1573) and in ancient poems and texts, including "Manyoshu" (The Anthology of Myriad Leaves).

(Note 1) Former Hachiman Shrine
During the Tenpyo-Hoji period (757-765), a fisherman living in Aza-Kakebuchi, Aburaya-cho (present-day Aburaya, Nagato City) had a vision of a deity named Hachiman-O-no-kami riding on an ox.
(Note 2) Former Hitomaru Shrine
It is said that Kakinomoto Hitomaro, on his way back from Iwami Province (Shimane Prefecture) to Kyushu and Nara, loved the scenery of this place and composed a poem, "The rippling waves of the inlet behind Mukozugu, the nori (seaweed) and the sleeves of the ama (fisherman) are getting wet. After his death, the local people erected a shrine to honor his legacy. Together with Takatsu in Iwami Province and Kakimoto Shrine in Akashi, Harima Province, they are known as one of the three shrines in Japan.