Abe Oji Shrine

Abe Oji Shrine is the only oji shrine of the Kumano Gongen still standing in Osaka Prefecture. In the Asuka period there was Abe-dera, held to be the clan temple of the Abe, the powerful family the place name Abeno comes from, and Abe Oji Shrine is regarded as the clan deity shrine of the Abe. With the moving of the capital, however, the Abe returned to Nara, and by the Heian period Abe-dera had been absorbed into Shitennoji. Kumano worship grew popular around that time, and because the shrine stands along the Kumano Kaido midway between Shitennoji and Sumiyoshi Taisha, it became the Kumano oji shrine Abe no Oji. The Kumano pilgrimage was at its height from the Heian period to about the Muromachi period, and oji shrines known as the ninety-nine oji of Kumano were built along the road. Oji means a branch shrine of the three Kumano shrines; they were set up along the road running from Kyoto through Settsu and Izumi to Kumano, for rest and for worship from afar. In the precincts a huge camphor tree four or five hundred years old, designated a preservation tree, spreads its branches.

Translated from the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City tourist listings (観光施設一覧, CC BY 4.0).

Osaka Prefecture's list of designated cultural properties names this place as the owner of 3. Objects are not necessarily on view.

大阪府 文化財一覧 (CC BY 4.0), current at 2024-05-01. Joined by owner name; long names are shortened to the buildings or the object.