Shiogama Shrine

photo by Fumihiko Ueno · CC BY 3.0

photo by Fumihiko Ueno · CC BY 3.0

202 steps up to the shrine of 1704, with 14 buildings that are Important Cultural Properties.

You climb the 表坂 stairway: 202 steep steps, with Shiogama port falling away behind you. At the top are two shrines side by side under the same cypress-bark roof: fourteen buildings plus a stone torii from the 1704 rebuilding, designated Important Cultural Properties in 2002. Next to it, the shrine's small museum holds weapons, mirrors and the palanquins carried in procession, and closes every Thursday except on festival days.

The first written mention of the shrine dates from 820, in the fiscal register ‘Kōnin-shiki’: the founding date officially remains unknown. Date Masamune, the lord who had just founded Sendai, had its main structure rebuilt in 1607; another rebuilding followed in 1663 under the fourth daimyo, Date Tsunamura. The structures visible today come from building work begun in 1695 and completed in 1704: the two twin shrines (right and left) plus a separate shrine to the west, gates, corridors and a tower gate, fourteen buildings and a stone torii in all, designated national Important Cultural Properties on 26 December 2002. Later restorations are documented in 1882, 1902, 1922 and 1942. On the same hill, behind its own gate with separate hours, also stands Shiwahiko Shrine (志波彦神社): you visit the two deities on the same round.

ℹ️ The gate to the main grounds opens and closes at times that change with the month: January–February 5:00–17:00, March–October 5:00–18:00, November–December 5:00–17:00 (on the three days of New Year the hours are different and need checking separately). Shiwahiko Shrine, on the same hill, has its own schedule that varies month by month. ⚠️ Even when the gate is closed, the outer area of the grounds remains open for prayer. The shrine museum costs 200 yen for adults and university students (170 for groups of 20, 150 for groups of 50), 150 for junior high and high school students (120/100), 80 for children (60/50); entry is free for Shiogama elementary and junior high school pupils at weekends and on public holidays (permanent exhibition only), for people with disabilities plus one companion, and for everyone on 18 May, International Museum Day. It opens at 8:30 all year: it closes at 17:00 from April to September, at 16:30 in October, November, February and March, and at 16:00 in December and January; closed on Thursdays (open if a shrine festival falls on that day) and from 26 to 30 January for the change of exhibitions. Free car park for visitors: four areas on the east and north sides of the grounds, about 350 spaces in all. Telephone 022-367-1611.

🚉 Hon-Shiogama · 12 min walk

Sources: shiogamajinja.jp · shiogamajinja.jp · shiomo.jp · online.bunka.go.jp · local-culture.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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