| Hochigai Shrine | 方違神社 |
| Sakai (堺市) | March 29, 2025 |
About Hochigai Shrine
The name so this shrine is extremely unusual. 方違 usually involves avoiding traveling in unlucky directions or at unlucky times.
Built on a location known as “Mikuniyama” or sometimes “Mikunioka”, it’s right on the border of three provinces of Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi but does not belong to any of them, thus has no direction. Pilgrims of the Kumado Kodo visited this shrine to ward off unlucky directions before heading south.
Nowadays it’s often visited by people who are about to go in a new direction in life, such as building a new house, moving, or going on at trip.
My Visit
I was in Sakai for an iaido seminar the next day. I’d been to Sakai several times for this seminar in the past, but I never made the time for sightseeing.
Sakai is especially famous for its kofun, ancient burial mounds. The largest key-shaped one in Emperor Nintoku’s huge kofun. Hochigai Shrine is next to Emperor Hanzei’s kofun.
The shrine is well maintained and the main shrine seems to have been rebuilt recently.
You can see goshuin from other locations in Osaka Prefecture here.
Links
Homepage (JP)
Omairi (JP)
Location
Wondering what a goshuin is? Read more about them here.
