Akihasan Hongu Akiha Jinja

The Akihasan Hongu Akiha Jinja is a Shinto altar in Tenryu-ku, Hamamatsu. The place of worship is situated close to the summit of Mount Akiha, on the southern slants of the Akaishi Mountains. It is the head place of worship of the 800 Akiha sanctums around the nation. The principle celebration of the place of worship is held yearly more than three evenings in December, and highlights services utilizing gigantic flares and different firecrackers. Per sanctuary convention, the Akibasan Hongu Akiha Jinja was set up in 701 as a Buddhist sanctuary by the celebrated internationally cleric Gyoki.

It was named Akiha-dera from a lyric composed by Emperor Saga in 709. Amid the Heian time frame it turned into an inside for the Shugendo faction and was related with the Shingon organization, albeit a lot of its ensuing history is questionable. After the beginning of the Tokugawa bakufu, resigned shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu requested the sanctuary to change over to the Zen order. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi specifically supported its mix of Shinto, Buddhism and Shugendo, and advanced the spread of the Akiha religion all through the nation to give security against flames. Regardless of its remote mountain area, the sanctuary turned into a mainstream journey bypass from the Tokaido for travelers on their approach to Ise Shrine or Kompira Shrine, or on their way back to Edo.