Matsunoki Jinja Shrine

This shrine in Obama honors a village leader who was crucified in 1652 at age 28 for petitioning the domain government on behalf of farmers crushed by high taxes. Matsunoki Shozaemon spent over a decade coordinating representatives from 252 villages before the tax rate was finally reduced. He was arrested for the illegal act of directly petitioning the authorities and executed on the banks of the Hikasa River. The shrine was built on the former site of the domain's rice storehouses in 1933. A statue near the torii gate shows him kneeling, offering up a written document to the domain officials.