Oe Shrine

Oe Shrine is one of the seven shrines of Tennoji. Prince Shotoku is said to have conducted rites here himself, and the shrine is described as the guardian of Shitennoji. Because it lies to the inui, the northwest, of Shitennoji, in the Edo period it was called Inui-sha, and because Bishamonten was enshrined here at that time it was also called Bishamondo. Bishamonten's animal messenger is the tiger, so the pair seated at the shrine are not the usual komainu lion-dogs but komatora, guardian tigers, and Hanshin Tigers fans come to worship in a steady stream. The stairway up the terrace slope toward the shrine is called the momotose, hundred years, stairway. The shrine name Oe was chosen by the priest of the day in 1867, because the land falls away to the west and the spot was once called the bank of Oe. The shrine is the birth deity of Tennoji Kitamura, and its principal deity is Toyouke no Okami, the same deity as Inari, a god of good harvests and of the keeping of food.

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