Hachiman no honji (The origin of Hachiman Shrine)

Hachiman no honji is based on a Muromachi-period tale, an otogi zoshi, and contains the story of the subjugation of the Three Kingdoms of Korea by the legendary Japanese Empress Jingu with the support of Sumiyoshi Dai Myojin and Shika no Shima Myojin. It also narrates the petition by the Buddhist monk Gyokyo that the spirit of Hachiman descend to a shrine near Kyoto to protect the city. Following Gyokyo's 859 petition the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine was founded and dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Ojin (late 4th-5th century), deified as Hachiman, Empress Jingu and the deity Hime Okami. The Minamoto warrior clan adopted Hachiman as their clan deity and patronized Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine before constructing the larger Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura. For another handscroll of this subject in which every scene is described, see Takasaki Fujihiko, Otogi zoshi, Nihon no bijutsu 52 (Tokyo: Shibundo, 1970), pls. 41 and 80.

There is another example of this subject in the Spencer Collection in the New York Public Library.