Yui Wakamiya Shrine
Yui Wakamiya Shrine is the birthplace of the Hachiman faith in Kamakura. Also known as Moto Hachiman (Original Hachiman), it was established in 1063 by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi (988–1075), a military commander serving the emperor in Kyoto. In 1051, Yoriyoshi was dispatched to northeastern Japan to subdue rebellious samurai. Before his departure from Kyoto, he prayed to Hachiman, the guardian deity of his clan, to whom the Minamoto traced their ancestry. Yoriyoshi emerged victorious after a 12-year campaign, and on his way back to Kyoto stopped in Kamakura to rest. It was during that sojourn that he founded a shrine to Hachiman to express his gratitude to the deity. More than a century later, Yoriyoshi’s descendant Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199) made Kamakura the seat of power for his new warrior-led government. Yoritomo expanded the city, establishing a new Hachiman shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, as its spiritual center. That shrine succeeded Yoriyoshi’s more modest sanctuary, which was retained here in its original location.