Tsurugaoka Hachimangū

is the most important Shinto shrine in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.  The shrine is a cultural center of the city of Kamakura and serves as the venue of many of its most important festivals with two museums.

For most of its history, it served both as a Hachiman shrine, and in latter years a Tendai Buddhist temple typical of Japanese Buddhist architecture. to reside in the new location to protect his government. shōgun Minamoto no Sanetomo was coming down from Tsurugaoka Hachimangū's Senior Shrine after assisting in a ceremony celebrating his nomination to Udaijin. The killer is often described as hiding behind the giant ginkgo, but no contemporary text mentions the tree; this detail is likely an Edo-period invention, which first appeared in Tokugawa Mitsukuni's Shinpen Kamakurashi. For his act Kugyō was himself beheaded a few hours later, (According to the honji suijaku theory, Japanese kami were just local manifestations of universal buddhas, and Hachiman in particular was one of the earliest and most popular syncretic gods. As early as the 7th century, Hachiman was worshiped together with Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya) in places like Usa).

The separation policy (shinbutsu bunri) was the direct cause of serious damage to important cultural assets. Because mixing the two religions was now forbidden, shrines and temples had to give away some of their treasures, thus damaging the integrity of their cultural heritage and decreasing the historical and economic value of their properties. Tsurugaoka Hachiman's giant (the two wooden wardens usually found at the sides of a temple's entrance), being objects of Buddhist worship and therefore illegal where they were, had to be sold to Jufuku-ji, where they still remain. The shrine also had to destroy Buddhism-related buildings, including its (a complete seven-building Buddhist temple compound), its tahōtō tower, and its (the enshrinement hall of a buddha). What remains to be visited today is only a partial version of the original shrine-temple.

Meiji-Showa periods

From 1871 through 1946, Tsurugaoka was officially designated one of the , meaning that it stood in the mid-range of ranked, nationally significant shrines.

Layout of shrine complex

thumb|left|Torii at entrance to shrine. The arched bridge is visible to the right.

Both the shrine and the city were built with Feng Shui in mind. Each direction was protected by a god: Genbu guarded the north, Seiryū the east, Byakko the west, and Suzaku the south. The arched bridge was called Akabashi (Red Bridge), and was reserved to him: common people had to use the flat one.

The Genpei Ponds<br />

File:Genpei-ike 01.JPG|Genpei ponds (Minamoto Pond)

File:Genpei-ike 02.JPG|Genpei ponds (Taira Pond)

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The Azuma Kagami says that "In April 1182 Minamoto no Yoritomo told monk Senkō and Ōba Kageyoshi to have two ponds dug within the shrine." According to another version of the story, it was Yoritomo's wife Masako who, to pray for the prosperity of the Minamoto family, had these ponds dug, and had white lotuses planted in the east one and red ones in the west one, colors which are those of the Taira and Minamoto clans. From this derives their name.

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The red of those lotuses is supposed to stand for the spilled blood of the Taira.

Sub-shrines and infrastructures

thumb|The Yui Wakamiya Yōhaijo, where one can pray at [[Yui Wakamiya without actually going there.]]

thumb|left|Music performance at Maiden

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū includes several sub-shrines, the most important of which are the Junior Shrine () at the bottom, and the Senior Shrine () 61 steps above. Right under the stairway there's an open pavilion called where weddings, dances, and music are performed.

Right next to the Yui Wakamiya Yōhaijo there are two stones: pouring water on them should reveal on each the contour of a turtle.

One of the islands in the Minamoto pond hosts a sub-shrine called dedicated to goddess Benzaiten, a Buddhist deity. For this reason, the sub-shrine was dismantled in 1868 at the time of the "Shinto and Buddhism separation" order (see above) and rebuilt in 1956.

Walking from the beach toward the shrine one passes through three torii, or Shinto gates, called respectively Ichi no Torii (first gate), Ni no Torii (second gate) and San no Torii (third gate). Between the first and the second lies which, as the name indicates, was the place where riders had to get off their horses in deference to Hachiman and his shrine.