The Camphor of Oimatsu Tenjin Shrine

In 1019 three thousand raiders from across the sea came ashore along this coast, and the shrine that stands behind this camphor began as a prayer to send them away. The chronicles call it the Toi invasion: it struck Tsushima and Iki first, then the Itoshima shore, and the Dazaifu government asked Tenjin, the deified scholar Sugawara no Michizane, for help. Oimatsu Tenjin Shrine stood by the sea at Kuga for eight centuries and was moved up to this spot in February 1823. Its stone lanterns were made in 1816 and its pair of Naniwa-style guardian lions in 1842. The tree itself has no record we can find. What we have is one visit on a bright autumn morning: a camphor with a trunk about five metres round by a visitor's estimate, a wide crown over the approach, a stone lantern and a lion-dog standing at its base, and a bamboo grove rising behind it. Nobody has dated it and we do not guess. If you go with a tape, measure it at chest height and tell us. If you know the shrine, tell us what they call this tree.