Provited by Hyotan Group, Hitachi City
Taking a walk around Oiwa Shrine　　(Hitachi City) 2014, June
There are many popular destinations for hikers in Hitachi City, where is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Abukuma mountain range． Here we introduce the precinct of Oiwa Shrine as one of the good places for taking a walk. Oiwa Shrine is located at Irishiken-cho where is not so far from the center of the city, and is an old historic place surrounded by the forest of big Japanese cedars． The place might be a spot for a nice stroll. To go there， it is preferable to proceed to Daigo direction of Route 461 near the Hitachi City Hall. Along the route to the Oiwa Shrine, there are the entrance of highway interchange, Hitachi mine trace, Nikko Memorial Museum , Takasuzu tunnel and Kirara-no-Sato Park . It is also possible to use the local bus from JR Hitachi Station and it takes 25 minutes． However, the service interval of the bus is about 2 hours. Historical background of Oiwa Shrine 　The origin of Oiwa Shrine was described in the Hitachi-Fudoki which is one of the oldest history books published in the 8th century． In the book it was explained that God lived at the foot of Mt.Kabire，ie Mt.Oiwa, and inhabitants built a shrine there． The precincts of the shrine is broad and many small shrines are scattered there. In the Edo-era, some temples were also erected. These shrines and temples were preserved by Mito Tokugawa family. Policy of separating the temple and shrine was carried out in the Meiji-era， but some evidence of temple is remained here.Therefore Festival of the shrine is under the influence of Sinto and Buddhism.
Strolling the grounds of the shrine 　　Guide plates of entrance to the shrine is provided at side of the route 461 and you can easily find the road to the shrine. There is a big torii gate at 50m south from there and you just walk inside the spiritual ground of the shrine. Here also is starting point of a trail up Mt.Takasuzu where is the highest mountain in Hitachi City. Parking area for 20 cars is available near the torii gate. Passing under the torii gate, the huge cedar called Sanbon-sugi can be found. In the fact, the stem of 9m in round is one and it is divided into three at 3 m above the ground. The cedar is 50m in height and is estimated to be over 600 years old. The cedar "Sanbon-sugi" is designated as the natural monument by Ibaraki Prefecture. 　Then there is a two-storied gate which was reconstructed at 1990's, and Nio Guardians(Nio-sama) are worshipped at both sides of the gate. In the cedar grove, the way continues to Hall (Haiden) of Oiwa Shrine through a small bridge that is painted red. There are some monuments and small shrines along the way (see ｔｈe following photographs). The wayside is filled with seasonal flowers.
Big torii gate	The huge cedar; “Sanbon-sugi”
Two-storied gate
Japanese rosea in eary summer	Rosebay in early summer
Memorial stone with a haiku	Monument of palm for purifying the mind
Climbing the narrow road behind the Haiden for about 20 minutes, Kabire shrine can be found in a dense and dark forest．For walking mountain road from the Haiden, hiking shoes are appropriate． 　The narrow road is a mountain trail up to Mt.Takasuzu of 623m via Mt.Kabire(Mt.Oiwa) that is formed by oddly-shaped rocks．
Monument of palm for purifying the mind	Haiden of Oiwa Shrine
A small shrine	A stone statue of Jizo
The view from an approach	Kabire Shrine
Contact to 　Oiwa Shrine: 　　　address: 752 Irishiken-cho Hitachi, 317-0055 　　　Tel: 0294-21-3445 　　　http://www.oiwajinja.jp/
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