Shimomachiya Shinmei Jinja (下町屋神明神社)

Shimomachiya Shinmei Jinja (下町屋神明神社)

"Seimei Ido" Monument

Shimomachiya Shinmei Jinja (下町屋神明神社) is a Shinto shrine located near the ruins of the Former Sagami Bridge along National Route 1 of the Shimomachiya District in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.  It serves as a kenmusha (jointly administered shrine) of Tsurumine Hachimangu and enshrines the kami Amaterasu-Okami (天照大神) and Oyamakui-no-Kami (大山咋神).

According to local elders, a spring once existed at the site where Abe no Seimei (921–1005), a well-known onmyoji (diviner) from the mid-Heian period, is said to have stopped to drink water while traveling eastward.  The spring no longer remains, but a stone monument engraved "Seimei Ido (清明井戸)," meaning Seimei Well, now stands in the area.

It is said that Daijingu (大神宮) was enshrined around 1455, when the area was under the jurisdiction of the Buddhist temple Kenchoji.  Local accounts also suggest Daijingu was founded during the Kansho era (1460–1466), but the exact details remain unclear.