His battle against Sasaki Kojiro was, without a doubt, overwhelming. But his life afterwards has remained unknown. Since he adopted a number of children who were all handsome, some suspected him to be fond of men.

One of these adopted sons was his nephew Miyamoto-Iori. He had succeeded the Miyamoto family, but this family was as mysterious as the Hata clan. He once financed at his own expense the rebuilding of the sanctuary of Tomari-shrine in Kakogawa. And ever since then it has become the ancestral deity of Miyamoto family.

What kind of shrine was Tomari-shrine that was deeply worshipped by the supreme Miyamoto family?

It turns out that names like Amaterasu-Omikami (Great divinity Illuminating Heaven) and Sukunahikona are listed under its worshipped deities. And how those names become its deities is again very interesting. The name "Tomari" signifies that this location was once a seashore. During time immemorial, a giant mirror washed ashore. This mirror is said to be one of the two mirrors Amaterasu-Omikami had created during the time she hid herself in Amano-iwaya. The remaining one is Yata-no-kagami, one of the three sacred objects called the Sanshu-no-Jingi. The mirror at Tomari-shrine was made from the same mold as Yata-no-kagami.

Too good to be true? But it's not as unfounded as it seems to be. According to a legend, there were originally three Yata-no-kagamis. One worshipped in Ise, one in Kunikagasuno, and another at the Imperial court. The legend regarding the origin of Tomari-shrine was probably derived from here.

In fact, one of the worshipped deities of Kunikagasuno-Shrine is the Kunikagasuno-Daimyojin. This dates back to the Asuka period. During the reign of Prince Shotoku, the mastermind Hata-Kawakatsu visited Kakogawa and established the Kakurin-temple. During this visit, Hata-Kawakatsu also called on Tomari-shrine requesting to share the deity of Kunikagasuno-shrine as its ancestral deity.

And ladies and gentlemen, here comes the Hata clan. Hata-Kawakatsu enshrined their ancestral deity, the deity closely related to the Hata clan. And this leads us to assume that Kunikagasuno-Daimyojin may have been the deity of Hata clan. The same deity was also worshipped by the Miyamoto family. The Miyamoto family and the Hata clan may had some relations through marriage.

The point that interests us is the fact that the master warrior family had worshipped the shrine that bears a mirror as its sacred object where the deity is believed to reside. A sword and a mirror. Don't they remind us of the Sanshu-no-jingi?

I personally feel that the key to understand why Miyamoto family had worshipped Kunikagasuno-Daimyojin may lie in the sacred object enshrined in the Kunikagasuno-shrine. It is called "Hihoko-no-kagami" (mirror of Hihoko). Although it is called a kagami (meaning a mirror), it is crowned with the name "Hoko" (halberd). Halberds and swords are both weapons. I can't help thinking that the Miyamoto family worshipped Kunikagasuno-Daimyojin because they regarded the halberd as a sword.

Furthermore, the name "Hihoko" resembles Amano-Hihoko, the prince of Silla who also symbolizes the Hata clan. The reason why Hata-Kawakatsu worshipped Kunikasugano-Daimyojin as their ancestral deity may lie here. Whatever the background may be, there is no doubt that the family of Miyamoto-Musashi, the superb swordsman of his era, had worshipped the deity of the Hata clan.

N.B. All the names are expressed with the last name first as in the Japanese custom .

Translated by Rie Ishida