投稿日：2025年04月18日
Under the blossoming cherry trees, archers dressed in traditional hunting costumes from the 12th-century Kamakura period gather every year in Tsuwano to perform the Sacred Yabusame Ritual before the deities, including Hachiman, the God of Archery and War.
Yabusame is a traditional Japanese mounted archery that dates back to the Kamakura period. It is performed as a sacred Shinto ritual in dedication to the deities, praying for universal peace, abundant harvest and good health.
Yabusame is performed in many locations across Japan, but Tsuwano holds a unique distinction: its riding grounds are modeled after those at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura (Kanagawa Prefecture), the original home of the Hachiman deity, and are the only ones in Japan that have preserved the ancient original layout seen in the 12th-century Kamakura period.
Because of this, the Washibara riding grounds were designated an Important Historical Site by Shimane Prefecture in 1966.
Designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2011, the Washibara Hachimangu Shrine was built in 1568, and is the oldest existing Shinto structure in Shimane.
The Washibara Hachimangu Shrine and the riding grounds are also featured in a dozen paintings from the Tsuwano Hyakkeizu (One Hundred Landscapes of Tsuwano from the Edo Period).
Today, skilled archers from the Ogasawara School of Yabusame — continuing a tradition spanning over 850 years — perform this dynamic and captivating ritual on Japan’s oldest existing horseback archery grounds.