Ninomiya Sengen Shrine

This Sengen shrine sits on a low hill in Fujinomiya, in what was formerly the Ōmiya district.

The name Ninomiya means “second shrine,” coming from its deity, who is the second child of Asama no Ōkami (Konohanasakuya-hime). Edo-period records list it as a subsidiary shrine of Sengen Taisha after Wakanomiya (Ichiōji), which enshrines the first child. Its priestly duties were handled by the Miyazaki family, who were priests of the main shrine. In Ōmiya, shrines dedicated to the children of Asama no Ōkami were situated around Sengen Taisha in this way, and the main shrine’s rituals came to “seventy-five a year.” On the tenth day of the first month, the Grand Priest, returning on horseback to Ōmiya following his retreat at Yamamiya, worshipped at the subsidiary shrines in sequence, including Kanenomiya, Fukuchi, Ninomiya, and Wakanomiya. This circuit was known as the jizō-mawari, or the round of the Jizō, though it had no connection to Jizō; the name is thought to come from the resemblance of the circuit. After the separation of Shinto and Buddhism during the Meiji era, the shrine was renamed Ninomiya Sengen Jinja, and in 1877 (Meiji 10) it became an auxiliary shrine (sessha) of Sengen Taisha.

Lava that flowed from Mt. Fuji is exposed within the shrine grounds. Sengen shrines around the base of Mt. Fuji are frequently situated at the ends of lava flows; Yamamiya Sengen Shrine sits at the end of the Aosawa lava flow, and Imamiya Sengen Shrine in Fuji City stands at the end of the Ōbuchi Marubi lava flow. Researchers think that Sengen shrines were placed at the ends of lava flows as sites to pray for eruptions to be calmed.

An outcrop of lava can be seen within the precinct on the hilltop.