Kagami Shrine


Kagami-jinja is a Shinto shrine located in Karatsu, Saga prefecture, Japan. The shrine is at the base of Mount Kagami in Genkai Quasi-National Park. It is now called Matsura Sōchinshu Kagami-jinja, and formerly known as the name of Kagami no mikoto Byōgū, Kagami-gū, Matsuura-gū, Itabitsu-sha and Kuri Daimyōjin.
Kagami-jinja was the head shrine of Matsura Country in the former Hizen Province and is classified historically as a "Sosha".
The shrine has a small museum preserving remaining artifacts, including an image of Yōryū Kannon from Goryeo Dynasty of Korea in 1310, now kept at the Saga Prefectural Museum, is the Cultural Properties of Japan.

History

According to legend, Empress Jingū climbed atop of the Mount Kagami during the legendary military invasion of Korea in the 3rd century. She put a mirror aside the mountain tops and praying for victory. After that this mirror gave off a ghost light, she was enshrined her own spirit when she heard to hear that tells a story. After she returned to Japan, she suffered the pain of labor in the land. The villagers gave a freshwater spring to her. She recovered her illness, and it was said that she had given birth to the Emperor Ōjin in Umi now part of modern Fukuoka Prefecture.
The Ni-no-miya, or secondary shrine, is dedicated to Fujiwara no Hirotsugu, the imperial prince and the eldest son of Fujiwara no Umakai. Hirotsugu petitioned for the removal of Genbō; and then Kibi no Makibi and Genbō used this complaint as a pretext to discredit Hirotsugu. As a result, Hirotsugu initiates a futile military campaign in September 740. The shrine was built in 750 by Kibi who was exiled to Dazaifu on the island of Kyushu, ten years after the execution of Hirotsugu. At the time of Genbō's death, it was popularly believed that he was killed by the vengeful spirit of Hirotsugu.
It was originally called Matsuura-gū or Matsuura-byōgū, but Kūkai has changed its name to Kagami-jinja.
In the Tamakazura chapter of The Tale of Genji, the song of the mirror god of Matsuura written by Tayunogen, a powerful family in Higo Province.

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