Isonomiya Hachiman Shrine

"The shrine was founded in 1194 by Goto Hyoe Sanemoto, a shogunate official in Kamakura, who enshrined a branch of the Usa Hachimangu Shrine as the guardian deity of the Goto clan and enshrined it at the Goto family home. After Goto Sanemoto's death, it is said that local people built a shrine at the foot of Mount Otori, southwest of the current location, and enshrined it there. In 1658, the shrine was moved to its current location by the priest Karasaki Masanobu. Within the shrine grounds remains the "Chukoi Rock," which is a designated historic site by the prefecture. Karasaki Hitachinosuke Sekisai, the fifth shrine priest and a pro-imperial advocate of the mid-Edo period who traveled all over the world to spread the idea of pro-imperialism, but committed suicide when his ambition was not realized. In his lifetime, he engraved the word "Chukoi Rock" on it in a style imitating that of Wen Tensho, a loyal retainer of the Song Dynasty in China, with the character "Chukoi" (loyalty and filial piety).