Nyakuichi Ōji

Nyakuichi Ōji
Nyakuichi Ōji Shrine
Equivalents
Shinto equivalent	Amaterasu
Buddhist equivalent	Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara

Nyakuichi Ōji (若一王子) is a Japanese goddess and one of the Twelve Kumano gods. She comes from a combination of Buddhism and Shinto. People say she is the same as Amaterasu Ōmikami, and she is worshipped at Nyakuichi Ōji Shrine.^[1] She is considered the Japanese version of Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara.

She is enshrined in the fourth hall at both Kumano Hongu Taisha and Kumano Hayatama Taisha, and in the fifth hall at Kumano Nachi Taisha. All of those halls call themselves Wakamiya

There are three groups of deities in the Kumano Gongen: Three Gongen, Five Ōji, and Four Myōjin. She is the top member of the Five Ōji.

People loved the goddess so much that they spread her shrines. With bunrei they brought her from those three shrines to Hama Ōji Shrine, and from there they took her to many other shrines across Japan.^[2] Many shrines in the middle ages were only dedicated to her and no other members of the Twelve Kumano gods.

During the Meiji Restoration and the Separation of Shinto and Buddhism most shrines that worshipped her changed the listed name to Amaterasu. But some shrines kept their names.

• Ōji Shrine in Kita Ward, Tokyo.
• Nyakuichi Ōji Shrine in Ōmachi, Nagano Prefecture.
• The shrine grove of Fujieda Nyakuichi Ōji Shrine in Wakaoji and Fujieda 5-chome, Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture .
• Kumano Nyakuōji Shrine in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto City.
• Nyakuichi Shrine in Honmachi, Shichijō Street, Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto City.
• A shrine in Tanabe , Wakayama Prefecture . It no longer exists, but a monument to "Nyakuichi Oji Gongen" stands at the site.
• The ancient name of Susami Ōji Shrine in Susami, Nishimuro District, Wakayama was "Nyakuichi Oji Gongen Shrine."
• Kumano Shrine in Kumano-cho, Nishinomiya City, Hyōgo Prefecture was formerly known as Nyakuoji Shrine.
• The ancient name of Heinosō Shrine in Heisocho, Kakogawa City, Hyōgo Prefecture is "Hira no Sho Nyakuichi Ōji Gongen."
• Nyakuichi Ōji Shrine - Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture
• Nyakuichi Ōji Shrine - So City, Kagoshima Prefecture

• Ninety-Nine Ōji Shrines
• Ōji-no-Kami