foundation until the of 1868, its name was and it was also a Buddhist temple, one of the oldest in Kamakura. The mixing of Buddhism and kami worship in shrine-temple complexes like Tsurugaoka called jingū-ji had been normal for centuries until the Meiji government decided, for political reasons, that this was to change. (According to the honji suijaku theory, Japanese kami were just local manifestations of universal buddhas, and Hachiman in particular was one of the earliest and most popular syncretic gods. Already in the 7th century, for example in Usa, Kyūshū, Hachiman was worshiped together with Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya).) The separation policy (shinbutsu bunri) was the direct cause of serious damage to important cultural assets. Because mixing the two religions was now forbidden, shrines and temples had to give away some of their treasures, thus damaging the integrity of their cultural heritage and decreasing the historical and economic value of their properties. Tsurugaoka Hachiman's giant } (the two wooden wardens usually found at the sides of a temple's entrance), being objects of Buddhist worship and therefore illegal where they were, had to be sold to Jufuku-ji, where they still are. The shrine also had to destroy Buddhism-related buildings, for example its (a complete seven-building Buddhist temple compound), its tahōtō tower, and its . In important ways, Tsurugaoka Hachimangū was impoverished in 1868 as a consequence of this Meiji Era policy. The imposed, inflexible reform orthodoxy of this early Meiji period was unquestionably intended to affect Buddhism and Shinto. However, the structures and artwork of this ancient shrine-temple were not yet construed as important elements of Japan's cultural patrimony. What remains to be visited today is only a partial version of the original shrine-temple. Meiji-Showa periods From 1871 through 1946, Tsurugaoka was officially designated one of the , meaning that it stood in the mid-range of ranked, nationally significant shrines. Layout of shrine complex Both the shrine and the city were built with Feng Shui in mind. The present location was carefully chosen as the most propitious after consulting a diviner because it had a mountain to the north (the ), a river to the east (the Namerikawa), a great road to the west (the ) and was open to the south (on Sagami Bay). Each direction was protected by a god: Genbu guarded the north, Seiryū the east, Byakko the west and Suzaku the south. The willows near the