Yaeyama Gongendo
The Yaeyama Gongen-dô is a Shinto shrine on Ishigaki Island dedicated to the Kumano Gongen deities. It was established in 1614 along with the Buddhist temple Tôrin-ji, after Satsuma han instructed King Shô Nei to build more shrines and temples in the kingdom; this came after a 1611 survey by Satsuma reportedly found no Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples at all in the Yaeyama Islands. The Gongen-dô, along with Tôrin-ji, thus represent the first Shinto shrine and Buddhist temple established in the Yaeyamas.
The shrine was destroyed in the Meiwa Tsunami of 1771, but was restored in 1786, and has been restored or rebuilt several times since then. In 1882, the shrine was reconstructed to more closely align with Japanese standards for a Shinto shrine. A bronze mirror dated to 1772 and held in the Honden is considered the oldest such mirror today surviving in Okinawa prefecture.
The shrine was named an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government in 1981.
