Moto Hachiman

Moto Hachiman (元八幡) is a small but very old and historically important Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref., Japan.

[1] This unattended shrine consists of just a torii, two stone lanterns (tōrō), and a honden or sanctuary, where the kami Hachiman is enshrined.

On the 12th day of the 10th month of 1180[4] Minamoto no Yoritomo, in order to worship his ancestors, had Yui Wakamiya transferred from its current spot to the mountain north of an area called Kobayashi, and that became Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū.

Yoriyoshi's decision had profound consequences for the country, because, since Hachiman was the Minamoto's tutelary kami, Kamakura was now the land of his family's ancestors.

[5] This, together with the fact Kamakura is a natural fortress and his desire to leave Kyoto, convinced Yoritomo this was the right place to found his shogunate.