Komo Shrine

Around the bay in Toshima District, Musashi Province, there was a hermitage called Manfuku-an, which enshrined Kanzenon and Benzaiten. This hermitage is said to have been founded by the Huishin Buddhist capital, and Kanzeon and Benzaiten are also said to have been the work of the monks. The date of the founding is not clear, but if we consider the history of the Huishin Buddhist capital, it is about 1,000 years ago. In the first year of Wenzheng (1466 AD), a plague broke out around the hermitage, and the people were in trouble. In the midst of all this, a netter came to the hermitage with an ear of rice caught in a net at sea and spent several days in this hermitage. One night, the hermitage Kaiki Keishin Monk comes to the dream pillow of the hermitage at the time and tells him that if he worships the netter as Inari Ōkami, the evil plague in the village will disappear. As night fell, there was no sign of the hermitage, but the hermitage told the villagers of the oracle of the Keishin Buddhist capital, praised him as the god of Koami Inari Daimyojin, built a shrine, and continued to pray day and night. It is said that soon the plague in the village subsided, and the villagers rejoiced. The lord of the manor, Prince Ota Mochishi (Dōkan), also heard of this divine virtue and visited this shrine from time to time. It is said that he donated the land and named it Koamiyama Inariin Manfukujuji Temple. During the Keicho period (1596~1615 AD), the surrounding area was named Koami-cho after these and this shrine was worshipped as a clan god. After the Meiji Restoration, the shrine and temple were separated by the separation of Shinto and Buddhist shrines, and on July 5, Meiji 6, it was designated as a village shrine as Koami Inari Shrine. The current shrine hall and Kagura Hall were built in Showa 4 by the chief craftsman of the Meiji Jingu Shrine building in the Taisho period, Naito Komasaburo Miya carpenter. It escaped the ravages of the war and is now the only wooden cypress shrine building left in the Japanbashi area. In particular, the carvings of the "ascending dragon" and "descending dragon" on the worship are splendid, and they are worshipped as "dragons of strong luck and evil removal". With the incorporation of religion after the war, the name was changed to "Koami Shrine". The shrine and Kagura Hall are currently registered as cultural properties of Chuo Ward.