In Iyo City, Ehime Prefecture, for some reason, there are many historical sites and legends related to the era of the "Minamoto Hei War".
Among them, today I would like to introduce "Yamabuki Shrine".

Yamabuki Shrine is a small shrine located in the mountains of Nakayama Town, Iyo City, Ehime Prefecture.
It is said that this shrine was built to mourn Yamabuki Gozen, who supported the warlord Kiso Yoshinaka who was active in the Battle of Kurikara Pass during the Battle of Minamoto Taira with Tomoe Gozen.

Kiso Yoshinaka raised his martial order in the Battle of Minamoto Hei, but he was accused of rebellion and defeated by Minamoto no Yoritomo. At this time, Yamabuki Gozen was left in the capital of Kyoto due to illness.
When Yamabuki Gozen learns of Kiso Yoshinaka's death, he falls to Iyo City, Ehime Prefecture, relying on the connection that Kiso Yoshinaka was Iyo Mori.

Yamabuki Gozen, who landed in Kaminada, Sokai Town, Iyo City, was unable to walk on his own due to illness, and his vassals tried to cross the mountain by pulling him on bamboo sticks. The Slope in the Midori district of Sokai Town, Iyo City, is called "Hikizaka", the top of the mountain is called "Tsukitaku" because he hid himself with a shield and spent the night, and the place where Gozen is said to have died and changed to a death costume is called "Costume Change Place".

Local people, naïve and kind-hearted, built a five-ring pagoda as a tomb to mourn the deceased. Furthermore, in 1892 (Meiji 25) (1892), Local volunteers commissioned Choshu carpenters, who had been skilled in erecting shrines and Temple in Ehime and Kochi, to build the Yamabuki Shrine in order to prevent the Tradition and the five-ring pagoda from being treated poorly.

A small shrine that you might overlook when driving in a car. Both the shrine and the pagoda are covered with moss and stand quietly and quietly.

The origin of Yamabuki Gozen is unknown, but there is a theory that she was a princess of a wealthy family in the Hajigawa region of Ozu City. At the time of her birth, she was called Yamabuki Gozen, the princess of Yamabuki, because there were many Yamabuki blooming in the garden.

In addition, it is said that she was a stool woman (servant, meaning beautiful woman) of Kiso Yoshinaka, but there is also a theory that she was his wife. The life of a beautiful and strong female warrior who was tossed around by the turbulent world is still being told in various parts of Japan.

*Yamabuki Shrine*
Address: Sareiya, Nakayama-cho, Iyo-shi, Ehime
Business hours: Free prayer
Car parking lot: None * If you park on Car shoulder of the road, please be careful of Car passage.