Sanko Shrine

Sanko Shrine stands on a low hill south of Tamatsukuri, formerly called Himeyama. Its deities are three, Amaterasu Omikami, Tsukuyomi no Mikoto and Susanoo no Mikoto, and it has long been known as a shrine that wards off chufu, stroke and palsy. Each year a seven-day grand service of prayer against it begins on 1 June. Takeuchi no Sukune, enshrined in a subsidiary shrine, is worshipped as a god of wealth and long life, and as the Jurojin of the Osaka Seven Lucky Gods circuit he draws a constant stream of visitors. Every building was lost in an air raid on 1 June 1945, and after the war the shrine took its present form through the efforts of parishioners and worshippers. The site is thought to have been part of the Sanadamaru fortification, and an underground passage to Osaka Castle called Sanada no Nukeana, Sanada's escape tunnel, is said to have run from here. Traces of it remain, and the entrance is normally closed off with an iron gate. The statue of Sanada Yukimura with his baton raised high was erected on 5 May 1987, on a pedestal cut from stone taken from Chokokuji, the Sanada family temple in Ueda in Shinshu.

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