Visiting Usa Jingu Shrine, Oita

In the afternoon, we went to Usa Jingu (宇佐神宮), a Shinto shrine in the city of Usa, Oita. It is also called Usa Hachimangu (宇佐八幡宮) and known as the head of all Hachiman shrines more than 40,000 branches of shintoism in Japan.

Usa Jingu's Odorii (大鳥居). As name suggests, it's a very big torii gate about 1 meter and 40 centimeters only at the height of the lower concrete ground.

The steam locomotive🚂of numbered 26 used for Usa Sangu Railway operated by Oita Kotsu, a transport company in Oita Prefecture. He was once a hero master of the railway in the 1950s. It is now no longer in use and kept in the train shed.

A small loco from Germany is on display in front of big torii gate.

Let's take a walk to the shrine.

Before going to the main shrine, I washed my hands at Chozuya (手水舎).

Going a little further, you'll see a forked road both upper and lower sanctuaries. If you turn left, you'll get to the upper sanctuary (上宮 Jogu) where the main shrine is located. If you go straight, you'll be going to lower sanctuary (下宮 Gegu) see the picture below.

We wanted to see the main shrine but we don't know that there is. We decided to visit the lower sanctuary first, then going to the main shrine.

Now we're going down a narrow path to the main hall.

The Saidaimon (西大門) gate in front of the main shrine.

Finally we came here.

The main shrine of Usa Jingu, the most impressive ancient structure with Japanese Hinoki cypress wood🌳, is designated a national treasure of Japan.

I looked back on the lower sanctuary from the upper one.

Kurehashi (呉橋), an arch bridge spanning the Yorimo River. It is normally closed so you have to use another bridge to cross.