The festival float I snapped for Nishinomiya Photo left such a strong impression on me that I went to 
大市八幡神社.
The entrance in a residential neighborhood↓
The shrine approach is surrounded by greenery. The grove of 大市八幡神社 was designated by Nishinomiya City as a protected scenic forest area in Showa 49 (1974)🌳
Since the Enthronement Ceremony of the Emperor was coming up soon, there were “banzai” banners up. There was also an ohyakudo stone in front of the main shrine building..
Just when I thought the camphor tree on the right was the sacred tree… there was another camphor tree over 400 years old!!!!
It’s hard to get a sense of its size from the photo (^_^;)
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fit it all in the shot^^; Anyway, it’s absolutely huge! Maybe because it’s a sacred tree, I could really feel some kind of power from it!! Is this where that festival float got charged up with all its energy?!
It was designated as a Nishinomiya City Natural Monument in Showa 55 (1980). If it was about 400 years old then, and 44 years have passed since, that means it’s about 444 years old now!! I started wondering, just how long ago was 444 years ago…? So I looked it up, and it was around 1575 during the Sengoku period, when the allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu were fighting Takeda Katsuyori at the Battle of Nagashino (゜゜) It has been here since around then…. amazing! Too amazing!
What is actually passed down is that it was planted as an offering in 1610 by the lord of the Himeji Domain in Banshu. (^_^;)
Just as the sign says, I really hope it continues to live for many, many more years!(^^)!
Here’s the location↓↓
★Related link 大市八幡神社 Facebook
