English
Ontakesan-ontakeshinmeisha shrine is in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture.
The origins of the shrine are unknown, but according to data from 1772, there was "Kounashinmeisha" at the current location. It had declined during the Meiji era, but was revived in 1906 by Yūzou Sato. He enshrined the bunrei of Kiso's Mt. Ontake. Bunrei are the divided spirits invited from the main shrine when worshipping the god in another place.
It has been renamed "Ontakesan-ontakeshinmeisha" in 1945 and later. The present shrine was rebuilt in 1978 and have believed by many people. The deities enshrined are Amaterasu-ōmikami and Ontake-ōkami.
In the shrine, there are several branch shrines. It is Kinoene-sha shrine that is on the east side and it is dedicated to Daikoku and Ebisu, which are known as two of the Seven lucky Gods. On the west side, there are Ōji-sha shrine, Inari-sha shrine and Sorei-sha shrine. Ōji-sha shrine is the shrine that is dedicated to Hachiko Prince who is also worshiped in Dewa Sanzan shrine.
At Ontakesan-ontakeshinmeisha shrine, there are two interesting festivals.
Firstly, Hoshi-festival is held on February third. A shrine priest performs the Kamanari ritual to divine whether people living in this region can have a rich harvest of rice or not in the festival. The Kamanari ritual is a ritual a shrine priest boils a kettle containing steaming basket and divine that through the loudness and the length of that sound. When the kettle boils, the sound of it is very powerful and we feel the sacred nature of the shrine.
Secondly, the Hiwatari-festival is held at the end of October. The Hiwatari-festival is a festival where worshipers walk barefoot on burned charcoal to pray for sound health. When the shrine priests and worshipers burn wood charcoal, they recite “Rokkonshōjo ” which is translated as “purification of the six roots of perception” in English. Rokkonshojo is a Buddhist term and is to purify six sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) called “Rokkon” in Japanese.