Dairokuten Jinja (第六天神社)

View of Dairokuten Jinja from National Route 1

Dairokuten Jinja (第六天神社), situated along National Route 1 in the Jukkenzaka District of Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, is one of several Shinto shrines referred to as Dairokuten (written "第六天" or sometimes "大六天") shrines found in Eastern Japan, primarily along the border of Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture.  They are nearly nonexistent in Western Japan.

The founding date of Dairokuten Jinja remains unclear.  The name of the shrine first appears in the Shinpen Sagami-no-kuni Fudokiko, a geographical guidebook of Sagami Province completed in 1841.  It is believed the shrine was founded during the early Edo period (1603-1868).  However, some accounts suggest it may have been founded during the Kamakura period (1185-1333), as the area's name, Jukkenzaka, is mentioned in the Azuma Kagami, a historical chronicle covering events related to the Kamakura shogunate from 1180 to 1266.

Dairokuten Jinja at night

The kami (deities) enshrined at Dairokuten Jinja originate from Takejizaiten (他化自在天), also known as Dairokuten-mao (第六天魔王), the demon king of the Sixth Heaven in Buddhism.  Although considered a demon, Dairokuten-mao was revered as a deity of wish fulfillment due to its perceived ability to transform worldly pleasures into personal ones.  It is said Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan, was a strong worshipper and Luís Fróis (1532-1597), a Portuguese Catholic priest and missionary, recorded that Nobunaga referred to himself as "Dairokuten-mao."  After Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) came to power, he reportedly abolished the shrines and Buddhist temples dedicated to Dairokuten-mao in his area, believing that Nobunaga was able to unify and exert control over Japan with the assistance of Dairokuten-mao's power.

Cenotaph honoring those who served and died in all the wars from the Russo-Japanese War to World War II

Under the shinbutsu bunri policy (the separation of Shinto and Buddhism) introduced by Japan's newly-formed Meiji government, the kami Omodaru-no-Mikoto (淤母陀琉命) and Imoayakashikone-no-Mikoto (妹阿夜訶志古泥命) were enshrined, as they had previously been identified as Dairokuten-mao under the practice of shinbutsu-shugo (the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism).

Dairokuten Jinja's temizu-ya (left) and haiden (right)

Yasaka Jinja (八坂神社)

Yasaka Jinja (八坂神社)

Between the temizu-ya (a water pavilion where visitors cleanse their hands and mouth before approaching the shrine) and the haiden (a hall of a Shinto shrine for worship) of Dairokuten Jinja stands the subordinate shrine of Yasaka Jinja (八坂神社), which enshrines Susanoo-no-Mikoto (須佐之男命).

The Goshinboku "Dairokuten-san no Kuromatsu (第六天さんの黒松)"

Dairokuten-san no Kuromatsu (第六天さんの黒松)

Behind the shrine building of Dairokuten Jinja stands a pine tree known as "Dairokuten-san no Kuromatsu (第六天さんの黒松)," which serves as the goshinboku (a sacred tree at a Shinto shrine believed to be a dwelling place of kami) of the shrine.  In the past, this tree was used as a landmark by fishermen at sea.  Between 1945 and 1954 (with some sources specifying the 1940s), lightning struck the tree, causing it to split in the middle.