Kaijin Shrine

This status denotes that the shrine is remarkable and holds a significant historical importance.

[4] In Tsushima folklore it is said that Toyotama-hime and Hikohohodemi no Mikoto married at this shrine, and it is thus the sea god's palace.

[5]: 443 Empress Jingu visited the area to worship at Mount Izu.

[5]: 321 The shrine is associated with Kamikaze, the typhoon that stopped the Mongol invasion of Japan.

The shrine was originally linked to the sea deity Watatsumi.

[2]: 98  Richard Ponsonby-Fane argues that Hachiman may have entered Japan through this shrine, as a Buddhist deity from Korea, and that this predated the association with Emperor Ōjin.

[2]: 97–99 This has parallels with Shikaumi Shrine which is a Hachiman shrine that strongly worships Empress Jingū and whose myths primarily revolve around Jingu's activities while pregnant with Ojin and invading the Three Han.

[2]: 97–99 On Hirado Island, Shijiki Shrine is the oldest and most prestigious.

[2]: 97–99 Empress Jingū is more central to Hachiman worship on these islands than her son Ōjin.

It tells of Zen master Enni Ben'en encountering a storm.

[2]: 97–99 In these legends, Empress Jingū is depicted differently from traditional Hachiman iconography.

The focus on Jingū suggests a unique interpretation of Hachiman worship in these areas.

Medieval sources considered Kaijin Shrine as the origin of Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū in Kyoto.

[2]: 98 It and many other Hachiman shrines of the region switched their deities of worship during the Meiji Restoration.

[2]: 98 A bronze statue of the Tathagata Buddha has been returned to Tsushima, Japan.

South Korea kept them at the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage.

Later, South Korea found no evidence that the Buddha statue was illegally taken to Japan.

[8] Buseoksa Temple in South Korea claimed the Avalokiteshvara statue.

They argued Japanese pirates might have looted it in the late Goryeo period.

It said there is no proof linking the old Goryeo temple to today's Buseoksa in Seosan.

Shrine area