「太田姫稲荷神社」
Do you know about Japanese shrines? Otahime Inari Shrine is dedicated to Otahime-no-Mikoto. At 4T-AMKY, Teachers and Students write about Japanese culture, food, history, many spots to visit, and other stuff. Enjoy reading and knowing about deeper Japanese culture!
Otahime Inari Shrine
Origin
When I turned diagonally down a narrow alley from the Surugadai-shita intersection on the way to Ochanomizu Station in Tokyo, I found a neat-looking shrine in the midst of large buildings of universities and companies. Its name is Otahime Inari Shrine, and it seems to be a local Chinju (local Shinto shrine). It seemed to blend in with the local community as people kept coming out of nowhere to pay their respects.
As I was interested in the origin noted on the explanatory board, I looked up the shrine’s history. They are briefly introduced below.
In 839, during the Heian era (794-1185), the noble Ono no Takamura (a descendant of Ono no Imoko, a Japanese envoy to Sui Dynasty China) received an oracle from a white-haired old man named Ota Hime no Mikoto at the sea in Hoki no Kuni (present-day central western Tottori Prefecture) that he should worship him to protect himself from the smallpox. Later, he built and dedicated a shrine in the village of Imoarai in Yamashiro Province (in the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture).
During the Muromachi era (1333-1573), the smallpox epidemic spread throughout the Kanto region, and the princess of Ota Dokan (a feudal lord of the Tokugawa shogunate) also became ill. Dokan heard of the miracle of Imoarai Inari and sent an envoy to Yamashiro Province to pray for the princess’s recovery, and the princess’s illness was completely cured. Since then, Dokan and his princess have deeply worshipped Imoarai Inari, which was recommended in the Edo Castle’s Honmaru.
One day in 1457, this deity revealed himself as a white fox, and decreed, “I shall guard the devil’s gate of this castle.” The shrine was relocated to the devil’s gate and became known as Ota Hime Inari Daimyojin.
When Ieyasu Tokugawa entered Edo, he moved the shrine to the present Nishiki-cho 1-chome.
In 1606, with the expansion of Edo Castle, the shrine was moved to the foot of the present Hijiribashi Bridge. After that, the shrine is said to have been repaired and built by the Tokugawa family.
After the Meiji Restoration, in 1872, the shrine was listed as a village shrine and its name was changed to Otahime Inari Shrine, and it became the guardian deity of Nishiki-cho 1-chome, part of Ogawamachi 2-chome, and the entire Surugadai area.
In 1931, the shrine grounds were confiscated for the construction of the Sobu Line, and the shrine was moved to its present location, Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda Ward, in its original form.
Otahime Inari Shrine was a shrine dedicated to the deity who saved people from smallpox about 600 years ago. In the present day of the Corona disaster, it is likely that many people have come to the shrine to pray for an end to the situation. I can’t help but pray that everyone’s prayers will be answered and that the world will soon return to the calm and peaceful state it was before.
Motomiya of Otahime Inari Shrine
Cross Hongo Dori from the Hijiribashi exit of the JR Ochanomizu Station toward Awajizaka and you will see a large muku tree towering over the street. Here was the former site of the shrine. Even today, a brief history of the shrine is tied to the muku tree, and visitors can take home a “Cold cough suppressant charm.”
「太田姫稲荷神社」
由緒
御茶ノ水駅に向かう途中の駿河台下の交差点から細い路地を斜めに入っていくと、大学や企業の大きなビルが立ち並ぶ中にきちんとした佇まいの神社がありました。名前は太田姫稲荷神社とあり、地域の鎮守様のようです。どこからともなく現れては参拝していかれる人々が後を絶たず、地域に溶け込んでいるように感じました。
説明版に記された縁起に興味を持ち、神社の由緒を調べたので簡単にご紹介します。
平安時代、839年、公卿（くげ）・小野篁（おののたかむら・遣隋使の小野妹子(おののいもこ)の子孫）は伯耆国（ほうきのくに・現鳥取県中西部）の海上で太田姫命と名乗る白髪の老翁から、疱瘡（天然痘）除けのため自身を祀るよう御神託を受けた。後に山城国一口(いもあらい)村に神社を創建して奉ったという。
室町時代、関東一帯に疱瘡(天然痘)が流行し、太田道灌（おおたどうかん）の姫君も罹患する。道灌は一口（いもあらい）稲荷の霊験を聞きつけ、山城国に使者を派遣し平癒を祈願したところ、姫君の病は全快したという。以来、道灌は江戸城内本丸に一口稲荷を勧請し姫君とともに篤く崇敬した。
1457(長禄元)年のある時この神が白狐を現して「我この城の鬼門を守るべし」と託宣されたため、鬼門に遷座し太田姫稲荷大明神と奉唱するようになった。
徳川家康が江戸入りすると、現在の錦町一丁目に遷した。
1606(慶長11)年には江戸城増築に伴って、現在の聖橋の袂に遷座した。以後、その修理造営は徳川家が行なったといわれる。
明治維新の後、1872(明治5)年には村社に列し、社号を太田姫稲荷神社と改称、錦町一丁目・小川町二丁目の一部・駿河台全域の氏神とされた。
1931(昭和6)年に総武線開通工事の為に社地が接収され、現在地、千代田区神田駿河台に社殿をそのままの形で遷した。
太田姫稲荷神社は、600年ぐらい前に天然痘の流行から人々を救ってくれた神様を祀った神社でした。コロナ禍の現在、収束を祈願して多くの方々が神社にお参りに来ているのだろうと思われます。みなさんの祈りが通じますように、そして、以前のような穏やかで平和な世の中に一日も早く戻りますように、と祈らずにはいられません。
太田姫稲荷神社の元宮
JR御茶ノ水駅の聖橋口から出て、本郷通りを横断し、淡路坂に向かうと大きな椋の木がそびえ立っています。ここが旧社地でした。現在も、椋の木には簡単な由緒書きがくくりつけてあり、「風邪咳封治御守」が持ち帰られるようになっています。
Ikuyo.K.
