is a

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

in Tsushima,

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

, Japan. It is the head shrine of a nationwide shrine network of shrines dedicated to the . Centered primarily in the

Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is ...

, this network has approximately 3,000 shrines and is the tenth largest network in the country. The main ''

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'' of this faith are , the god of pestilences, and

Susanoo __FORCETOC__ Susanoo (, ; historical orthography: , ), often referred to by the honorific title Susanoo-no-Mikoto (), is a in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese im ...

, two deities that have been conflated together. For this reason, like other shrines of the network, it is also called . (See Gion cult for more information.)

History

Shrine legend, unsupported by any historical documentation, claims that the shrine was founded in Tsushima by the semi-legendary

Emperor Kōrei , also known as was the seventh legendary emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Very little is known about this Emperor due to a lack of material available for further verification and study. Kōrei is known as a ...

(343-215 BCE) to worship Gozutennō's '' aramitama'' (its violent side), which remained at

Izumo-taisha , officially Izumo Ōyashiro, is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. No record gives the date of establishment. Located in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, it is home to two major festivals. It is dedicated to the god , fa ...

, and it's '' nigemitama (calm aspect)'' which came to Japan from the

Korean peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

after stopping in Tsushima Island, between Korea and Japan. The shrine relocated to its current location in

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces w ...

in 540 CE. This may explain the relationship between the two Tsushimas suggested by the common name. The shrine appears in historical records from the time of

Emperor Saga was the 52nd emperor of Japan, Emperor Saga, Saganoyamanoe Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. Saga's reign lasted from 809 to 823. Traditional narrative Saga was the second son of ...

(786-846 CE), during whose rank it was awarded the status of First Court Rank, indicating that it was of considerable importance and antiquity by that time. It was awarded the title of ''Tennō-sha'' by

Emperor Ichijō was the 66th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 一条天皇 (66)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011. Biography Before he ascended to the Chrysanthe ...

(980-1011 CE); however, for unknown reasons, it is not mentioned at all in the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book of laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ''Engishi ...

'' records completed in 927 CE, nor in the official records of the province. In the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, the

Oda clan The is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they reached the peak of their power under Oda Nobunaga and fell soon after, several branches of the ...

built Shobata Castle in the vicinity of the shrine, and the

family crest A crest is a component of a heraldry, heraldic display, consisting of the device borne on top of the Helmet (heraldry), helm. Originating in the decorative sculptures worn by knights in tournament (medieval), tournaments and, to a lesser exten ...

of the Oda clan is the same emblem as that used by the Tsushima Shrine, indicating a close connection. The shrine was subsequently repaired by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

, and it received official status and patronage by the Owari Tokugawa clan of

Owari Domain The Owari-Han, also known as the Owari Domain, was a significant feudal domain in Tokugawa shogunate, Japan during the Edo period. Situated in the western region of what is now Aichi Prefecture, it covered portions of Owari Province, Owari, Mino ...

under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. With the establishment of

State Shinto was Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for Kannushi, priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that ...

in the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, Tsushima Shine was initially ranked as a prefectural shrine in

Modern system of ranked Shinto shrines Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philos ...

, and its status was increased to that of a '' kokuhei-shōsha'' (国幣小社), or National Shrine, 3rd rank, in 1926. In 1920, the ''

Honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

'' of the shrine, which was built in 1605 under the patronage of

Matsudaira Tadayoshi was a Japanese military commander and feudal lord during the early Edo period. He was the fourth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu with his concubine Saigo-no-Tsubone. His childhood name was Fukumatsumaru (福松丸). Early life When his mother died, ...

, was designated an Important Cultural Property. The building is built in the owari-zukuri style, of which few examples remain. The ''

Rōmon The is one of two types of two-storied gates used in Japan (the other one being the '' nijūmon'', see photo in the gallery below). Even though it was originally developed by Buddhist architecture, it is now used at both Buddhist temples and S ...

'' gate, built in 1591, was also designated an Important Cultural Property in 1954.

Festivals

The shrine holds a festival called during the sixth month of the

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...

(July in the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

. During the festival, boats called are floated on the Tennō River, and reeds are released into the water.

Gallery

File:Tsushimajinja3.JPG, Rōmon File:Tsushimatennosai1.JPG, Owari Tsushima Tennōsai(eve)

References

Beppyo shrines Shinto shrines in Aichi Prefecture Tsushima, Aichi Kokuhei Shōsha Gion shrines Important Cultural Properties of Aichi Prefecture Aichi Prefecture designated tangible cultural property Owari-zukuri {{Gion cult