Hakugin-do Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Itoman City, Okinawa.

Itoman has long been associated with fishermen. Even today, residents of this southern city refer to themselves as uminchu, or “people of the sea” in the local dialect. So, appropriately enough, the legend of Hakugin-do begins with a fisherman.

Centuries ago, a fisherman (named Bidun in some versions of the story) was down on his luck and needed to borrow money. He turned to a samurai from Satsuma (an area in mainland Japan) named Kodama Saemon. But the fisherman was unable to repay the loan at the required time, and fearing the samurai’s wrath, hid in a nearby cave. Angry at the fisherman’s disappearance, the samurai scoured the town looking him. When the samurai finally found him in the cave and was ready to take the fisherman’s life, the uminchu quoted an old proverb: “When angry, do not strike. If you must strike, do not do so in anger.” Assuaged by the fisherman’s words, the samurai put down his sword and spared the man’s life. He granted another grace period to the fisherman.

When the samurai returned to his home, he found his wife in their darkened bedroom, asleep with another man. Angry, the samurai again reached for his sword, but the fisherman’s words immediately sprang to mind. He dropped his sword, and the clatter awoke the slumbering duo. The individual sleeping next to the samurai’s wife had been his mother. The old woman had dressed as a man and slept with her daughter-in-law to protect her while the samurai had been away. It was then that the samurai fully realized the wisdom of the words the fisherman had spoken.

The samurai soon returned to Okinawa to thank the fisherman and cancel the debt. But the fisherman had already collected the money and refused the pardon. The two finally agreed to stow the money in the cave in which the fisherman had hidden from the samurai. That cave of legend is said to have been located where Hakugin-do is today.

Hakugin-do has long been visited by fisherman offering prayers for a bountiful harvest and the wives that prayed for their safety. On the day of the Itoman hârę (dragon boat races), the winning team parades to Hakugin-do following victory. The shrine is also mobbed by throngs during the New Year holiday as well as the lunar New Year.