Kin Shrine

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Kin Gongen Shrine Cave
  • Japanese: 金武(Kin guu), 金武権現宮 (Kin Gongen guu)

Kin Shrine is a Kumano Gongen shrine located in a cave beneath the Buddhist temple Kin Kannon-ji in Kin Town, Okinawa Island. The shrine is considered one of the Ryukyu Eight Shrines, the eight most important or significant shrines in the Ryukyu Islands.

The shrine and the associated temple are said to have been founded by Nisshû Shônin, who set sail from somewhere near Kôya-san (modern-day Wakayama prefecture) in search of the Pure Land and was castaway on Okinawa. Arriving at Tomikura (today, Fukuhana), near Kin, he established a temple, and carved images of the Buddhist figures Kannon, Amida, and Yakushi to install within it. Around the same time, Nisshû is said to have prayed for Kumano Gongen to come and manifest itself in the caves beneath the temple, where he then established Kin Gongen Shrine. Despite the shinbutsu bunri (dividing Shinto from Buddhism) policies of the Meiji government, at Kin the two still remain linked today.

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