Itatehyōzu Shrine
Itatehyōzu Shrine (板手兵主神社) is a Shinto shrine located in southeastern Himeji in Harima, Japan.
History[edit | edit source]
In 1582, the Kakushiba ikki members Fujibayashi Naoe and Yasuke ventured towards the shrine after finding a note from a shinobi at Junisho Shrine. At the shrine, they heard the priests and shrine-maidens talk about their master coming while they looked for any clues. There, they found an injured Ukita Hideie and began to escort him from the shrine. However, his father and daimyō Ukita Naoie arrived and told his son to follow his men to Okayama. While the young Ukita left, the pair spoke to Naoie about his timely arrival and why he sent Hideie to Bizen. When Naoie rebuffed the questions, he asked them if Kanbei knew of their actions.[1]
When Naoe and Yasuke admitted Kanbei did not, Naoie revealed himself to be part of the Shinbakufu and how he planned another attack on Himeji Castle against Kanbei and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When the pair declared to fight, Naoie summoned his secret shinobi to kill them while he made his exit. Fortunately, the shinboi proved no match for the pair, who left to inform Kanbei of Naoie's betrayal.[1] At some point, they returned back to the shrine and paid their respect to three of its smaller shrines.[2]
While there, Naoe and Yasuke met a young orphan girl, who told them of how her mother died from the roaming rōnin. The pair promised to deal with the rōnin for her safety. After ridding the land of the rōnin, they returned to the shrine and told the girl to find people to be her family. Yet, the girl continued to wail in pain and stated that she wanted to be alone. Before they left, the girl gifted them gold as their reward.[3]