Shinto shrines · The temple and shrine corporations · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Kumano Hongū

The shrine of Kumano's main god on the river flat of Ōyunohara in the mountains of southern Kii, to which the pilgrim road from Tanabe climbs.

Its gods are Amida (Buddhist), Susanoo and Ketsumiko-no-Ōkami (English Wikipedia). Imperial pilgrimages (Kumano gokō) began with Emperor Uda in 908, became frequent with Shirakawa's in 1090 and ran to about ninety-four in all, the last in 1281 (English Wikipedia). Go-Shirakawa made thirty-three and Go-Toba is recorded on the road in 1201 in Fujiwara no Teika's diary (the same page).

A trip is on foot in principle, with the baggage on horses (the same page); the shrine lives by gifts and by the lodging houses along the road [not yet checked against the source]. Hongū's oath papers (goō hōin, the printed charms) are used to seal promises [not yet checked against the source].

Who holds it

Name
not known for 1 January 1200
Title
Priests of Hongū under the Kumano overseer (kengyō) of Onjōji's line [not yet checked against the source]
Family
The first Kumano kengyō is Zōyo, an Onjōji monk, named in 1090 for guiding Retired Emperor Shirakawa's pilgrimage [not yet checked against the source]
Confidence
low

English Wikipedia (Kumano Kodō) gives the pilgrimages and the three gods; the overseer's line is recollection.

Overlord

none in law; the cloistered emperor and the court are its patrons

What it holds

  • Ōyunohara and the shrine precinct
  • Estates along the Kumano and Otonashi rivers [not yet checked against the source]

Allies and rivals

Linked to Hayatama (Shingū) and Nachi as the three shrines; Onjōji's line holds the oversight [not yet checked against the source].

How things stand that morning

At the height of the pilgrimage age; the Go-Toba journeys are a main source of gifts.

Wealth

Offerings and gifts of the pilgrims; estates; no figure used.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. Kennin 1 (1201), 10th lunar month, about November 1201Go-Toba's pilgrimage along the Kumano road with Fujiwara no Teika in the party (English Wikipedia: recorded in Teika's diary)Depends on: Go-Toba's health and favour; the court's calendar Stopped by: A death or a crisis in the capital

Places of note

  • Ōyunohara: The old river-flat site of the shrine, washed out in 1889 (recollection); the present shrine stands on higher ground

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry id kumano-hongu says Go-Toba's court rides the road 'almost yearly'. English Wikipedia (Kumano Kodō) dates only the 1201 journey; we give no count for 1200.

Evidence: English Wikipedia (Kumano Kodō) for the pilgrimages; the overseer's line is recollection.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: A precinct only; the Kumano country is drawn by the Kumano province record.

Primary sources for Temple powers (west)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Hundred Times Refined Extracts: court annals (late thirteenth century, from court diaries). Short dated annals of the imperial court excerpted from courtiers' diaries, among them the Gyokuyo and the Meigetsuki. Read online
  • Mirror of the East, Anonymous; compiled by officials of the Kamakura shogunate (compiled about 1300 from the shogunate's records, diaries and family documents). The Kamakura house's own chronicle, in daily entries. Read online
  • Jottings of a Fool: an interpretative history of Japan, Jien (慈円) (about 1219 to 1220, revised to about 1223). A history by Kujo Kanezane's brother, head of the Tendai school and the leading churchman of the court, written to explain the fall of the Kujo and the rise of the warriors as the working of principle (dori). Read online
  • Leaves of Jade: the diary of Kujo Kanezane, Kujo (Fujiwara) Kanezane (九條兼實) (1164 to 1200, as a daily diary). The diary of the former regent, Yoritomo's ally at court, who had been driven from power in the Kenkyu purge of 1196 and lived in retirement in 1200. Read online
  • Record of the Bright Moon: the diary of Fujiwara no Teika, Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家) (1180 to 1235, as a daily diary, with gaps). The diary of the poet and courtier, then thirty-eight and a middle-ranking official of the Kujo house. Read online
  • Surviving Documents of the Kamakura Period, Various; collected by Takeuchi Rizo (竹内理三) (documents of 1185 to 1333, collected and printed 1971 to 1997). The collected charters, deeds, court orders, shogunal directives, temple records and land registers of the Kamakura age, printed in date order. Read online
  • The Tale of the Heike, Anonymous; traditionally attributed to Shinano no Zenji Yukinaga, performed and reshaped by blind reciters (early thirteenth century in its first form; the standard Kakuichi text was fixed in 1371). The epic of the Genpei war, in the form the reciters gave it over the century after 1200. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. OMNIA kja regional brief (KJA_BRIEF.md), the campaign's dated traps and realm table
  2. OMNIA board notes and places for area kjw (starting lead only, checked against the sources)
  3. Kumano Kodō, English Wikipedia
  4. Emperor Go-Toba, English Wikipedia

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.