Imayama is said to be the place where the oldest temple in the Nobeoka region was founded in the first year of the Yoro era (717).
The shrine was established in 750 as a shrine for the Usa Hachiman Shrine in Buzen Province, and was deeply revered by the provincial governors and military governors at the time. In 758, when the shrine's land was increased, the temple reached its peak of prosperity and the name of the shrine was changed to "Imayama," meaning "the mountain that is now most prosperous," and it is said to have been renamed Imayama Hachiman Shrine.
[Imayama Ebisu Shrine, Toka Ebisu]
It is a branch shrine of Imayama Hachiman Shrine and one of the three major Ebisu shrines in Kyushu (Hakata, Wakamatsu).
Every year on February 10th and 11th, the shrine is crowded with worshippers who come to pray for prosperous business and safe voyages on the Toka Ebisu festival.
It is also one of the "Seven Lucky Shrines of Hyuga Province" and enshrines the god Ebisu.
[Ebisu God]
The image of Ebisu represents Kotoshironushi-no-Mikoto (Kotoshiro-nushi-no-Mikoto), the son of the land god Okuninushi-no-Mikoto (Okuninushi-no-Mikoto), fishing.
He has a harmonious face, wears a curved-tip eboshi hat, and holds a fishing rod in his right hand and a sea bream in his left.
Ebisu is said to bring abundance to production, prosperity and profit, and is a god who bestows happiness and peace.
He is loved as the god of fishing, commerce, and agriculture.