Or at least the gate to his shrine. His impressive gate.
Click for a bigger view
The name of the shrine is Iga Hachiman and it is dedicated to the war god, Hachiman. It's one of the bigger shrines in Okazaki and features some pretty impressive architecture, such as you can see with this gate.
Back in the day, armies would come here to pray for victory before going off to battle. There is a relative famous story in this. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who would go on to conquer Japan and be named Shogun in 1603, also brought his men here before battle, as was the thing to do. On one particular occasion, he had his men camp out around here, promising them that Hachiman would give them a sign of victory in the coming battle. That night, a group of ninja hired by Ieyasu sneaked in, dug up the shrine torii gate (a large gate several yards opposite this gate), and moved it a few feet. When the men woke the next morning they had their sign from Hachiman! Victory was theirs! Full of confidence they marched on to their battle, where they did win.
Clever Ieyasu. No wonder he went on to greater things.
This is my entry in @juliank's #architecturalphotography contest.
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 | David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. |