The Masaki Shrine

[takahata]

Until TM: Ryo-Ohki OVA3 episode one, the Masaki Shrine was supposed to be located somewhere in the mountains in the Okayama Prefecture.   Since Tenchi had taken a train to Kurashiki, the Masaki Shrine is located closer to Kurashiki as well as Northwest of the city.   From references in GXP, the Masaki Shrine and  Tenchi's Residence are located close to a town.  The name of the town is not given in GXP. 

The Masaki Shrine, Masaki Lake, Tenchi's Residence and the fields seem to be located in a large nature preserve.  The nature preserve is likely part of a much larger estate which the Masaki Family had once own in the past.   There are other private residences and farms in the area around the Masaki Shrine.  One of the residences is likely a mansion on the present estate own by the Masaki Family.  The home of Tenchi's Aunt/Taro's grandmother is likely one of the residences near the Masaki Shrine.

One of the purposes for the Masaki Shrine is to hold the former cave cell of Ryoko.  Likely there was another shrine located where the present Shrine is located.  The former shrine could have been destroyed by Ryo-Ohki after she crash landed on Earth.  It is likely that the Kami patrons of the Masaki Shrine are the Chousin sisters. The Masaki family may have given the Japanese names for the Chousin Sisters.   The residents of the nearby town are aware of the  Shrine. Still the Shrine's location did help Katsuhito to maintain his disguise as the old Chief Priest of the Shrine.

The Masaki Shrine is located on a ridge which is part of a large hill.  Ryoko's Cave is located little higher on the hill.  The Shrine is connected by a series of four separate stairways, and trails.  Each of the trails connect to other parts of the large nature preserve.   One of the trails conncet to the pond where Funaho the sacred tree of the Masai shrine sits on a small island located in the pond's middle. 

The main reasons for the nature preserve are unknown. It is likley that one of the reasons of the nature preserve is to protect the Royal Tear Drops, and a variety of other vegetation.  The Royal Tear Drops seem not to be an endangered species of plants.  There seems to be a species of flowers which is related to the Royal Tear Drops.  Ryo-Ohki had brought a flower which looks a little like a Tear Drop.  I will call the related flowers Royal Drew Drops.  Drew Drops may be  flowers meant to be a symbol of happiness on Jurai.

We know that the Masaki Shrine based on several real sites which Kajishima knows about.  The name of the town located near the Masaki Shrine is not known.  I do think that the town is based on the towns of Yakage Japan, and the former town of Mabi Japan.  The former town of Mabi has become one of the wards of Kurashiki City.  Yakage, and  the former town of Mabi are located northwest of Kurashiki City.

[shades of blue]

According to Google Maps Tarojinja, the shrine the Masaki Shrine is based off is located in Asakuchi, part of Okayama Prefecture.
Located on the R1 OVA3 disc #2 is a 24 minute long tour of the actual locations that inspired the names and settings of Tenchi Muyo.



That's the location & address of the actual shrine, take note of the road's name. 
I believe Tenchi's home is located directly south of that location, at the large body of water.


Some useful keywords:
太老神社 Tarojinja (Thick Old Shrine) aka Masaki Shrine
鬼の差し上げ岩 Oni no Sashiage Iwa (Demon's Offering Rock) aka Ryoko's Cave
聖地巡礼 seichi junrei, Pilgrimage to the Holy Lands
天地無用 Tenchi Muyo, duh

Some old Japanese sites, switch your browser's character encoding to Shift_JIS for proper moonrunes.
http://neetit.ken-shin.net/tenchijunrei.html
http://www.geocities.jp/snowchild1010/okayama/okayama.html
http://www.geocities.jp/snowchild1010/okayama/okayama_day2pm2.html
http://okayamania.com/blog/?cat=9&paged=2


And the white man invades the "Holy Lands". What's that, are those black ships I see on the horizon? 




http://www.youtube.com/v/Qwaae0poPvo

http://www.youtube.com/v/CjgB-aeAva0

[shades of blue]

Figured I'd take some caps from my discs.

[takahata]

I did meant that Masaki Kajishima had used actual places for the bases of  the fictional places of Tenchi Muyo.  Shades of Blue, thanks for the information on the real places. 

[takahata]

This reply is an update.  The location of the fictional Masaki Shrine seems to be likely located somewhere in Takahashi City.  During the 1990's, the Masaki Shrine could have been located in what is call in Japan a District. A District in Japan is a lot like a state county. When I have look a some maps of Takahashi City, most of the land in Takahashi City is hilly and what seems to be  heavily forested.  There are many farms located on each of  the maps. 

There exact location of Masaki Shrine is still not known.  Episode One of OVA 3 suggests that the Masaki Shrine is more closer to the nearest town. Seina Yamada had taken a shortcut to Kai's house. After his visit to Kai's house, Seina had used the long way around to get home. On his way home , Seina had seen Ryoko flying back to Tenchi's place. TM OVA 3 suggests that the Masaki Shrine is closer to a train station located along the Habuki Line. 

A part of the nature preserve where the Masaki Shrine is on may be located in another city. One of the likely cities is Soja City.  Soja City is located southeast of Takahashi City.

Takahashi is one of the candidates for the town near the Masaki Shrine.  During the 1990's, Takahashi was the name of a town.  During the year 2005,  Takahashi and four other towns have merged to become  the present city of Takahashi City, Japan.  I am wondering if the name of the town located near the Masaki Shrine will disclosed in TM: Ryo-Ohki OVA 4.

[takahata]

This an update on the Masaki Family Shrine.  The Shrine and the Masaki Residence have two towns located near it.  The information comes from OVA 4.  The name of the first town is Masaki Village.   Siena's friends Kai Masaki, his sister Kiriko Masaki and his mother live in the town.  The second town is the town where Siena and his family live.  The second town is likely Masaki Village.

The fictional Masaki Village is now part of a larger city.  One candidate for the city is Takahashi City Japan.  During the timeline of the  Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki OVA series, Masaki Village was a separate village located somewhere in rural Okayama Prefecture.  By the time of the War on Geminar,  Masaki Village had merge with other towns to become a city.

[WaitoKon]

Thank you takahata, this is great information. So what became of Kurashiki, Seto, Asakuchi and surrounding? Does the bridge demolition in OVA 1 lead to different zoning?   

[For Washuu]

This is waaaay helpful for my upcoming trip to Japan. Holy crap. :0

[takahata]

Thank you takahata, this is great information. So what became of Kurashiki, Seto, Asakuchi and surrounding? Does the bridge demolition in OVA 1 lead to different zoning?   

When it comes to the location of the Masaki Family  Shrine if it was located in the real world, the best clue of the Shrine's location is the Hakubi Line.  Three cities have become candidates for the location of the Shrine. The three cities are Niimi, Soja City, and Takahashi City. The Hakubi Line runs through all of the three cities.  For Asakuchi, it is the location of the Taro Shrine.  The Taro Shrine and the cave located near it are the inspirations for the Masaki Family Shrine and Ryoko's cave.

Kurashiki is the city where Tenchi have live in before Ryoko had drop the original Masaki Residence next to the Masaki Family Shrine.  Tenchi's high school is located near the home of Tenchi's half brother Kenshi Masaki. From OVA 3 episode 1, there is a clue which suggest that the original location of the First Masaki Residence is near the Takahashi River.  The clue is a bridge.  For the bridge wreck by Ryo-Oh and Ryo-Ohki , it is the Seto Ohasi i Bridge.

[WaitoKon]

Hakubi Line is a big deal, it's celebrating 100 years this year folks.