Izumo Taisha: A Historic Shinto Shrine in Japan
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Very High
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Japanese, Kamakura shogunate, Tokugawa, Toyotomi regime
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Sanctuary
On this page18 sections
History
Izumo Taisha is a Shinto shrine in Japan, located in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, and dedicated chiefly to Okuninushi, a kami associated with the formation and governance of the land, happiness, and human relationships. Its exact foundation date is unknown, but the shrine’s traditions connect its creation with the mythical transfer of sovereignty over the land to the heavenly lineage. Izumo Taisha is listed in the Engishiki, a tenth-century compilation of laws and rituals, as the first-ranking shrine of Izumo Province.
Origins and early recognition
According to Japanese mythological traditions, Okuninushi agreed to yield the land and received a great palace as his residence. The Kojiki calls this palace Amenomiaraka, while the Nihon Shoki gives the name Amenohisumi-no-miya. The Izumo Fudoki likewise describes a palace built for the kami who created the land. These accounts present the shrine as an institution established under heavenly authority rather than simply as a local cult foundation.
Another tradition states that in 659 the imperial court ordered the governor of Izumo Province to repair the “Shrine of the Gods.” Shrine tradition regards a building campaign attributed to the reign of Emperor Sujin as an earlier major construction phase and the work of 659 as a second one. By 867, Izumo Taisha had received the rank of Senior Second Rank and was recognized separately from Kumano Taisha as the first-ranking shrine of the province.
The shrine was traditionally known as Kizuki Taisha until its official renaming as Izumo Taisha in 1871. Earlier records also preserve names including Okami-no-miya, Itsukashinokami-no-miya, Kizuki-no-miya, and Iwakumanoso-no-miya. The Izumo Kokuso, the hereditary religious office associated with leadership of Izumo’s rites and, in earlier periods, with provincial political administration, has been connected with the shrine since its foundation.
Medieval authority and religious change
In the medieval period, Izumo Taisha controlled twelve townships and seven coastal settlements. Toyotomi Hideyoshi later reduced these holdings to five townships and two coastal settlements. The Izumo Kokuso family, traditionally descended from Amenohohi, continued to conduct the shrine’s rites while also exercising political authority in Izumo until the period of its thirty-first hereditary governor. Thereafter, its role became principally religious.
From the fourteenth century, the hereditary priestly office was divided between the related Senge and Kitajima families. Both families performed the rites until the end of the shogunate, while the Senge family has conducted the shrine’s rites since the Meiji period. The principal priest is the eighty-fourth hereditary Izumo Kokuso, Senge Takamasa. His predecessor, Senge Takatoshi, became chief priest in 1947, after the postwar separation of Shinto from state control.
Izumo Taisha was closely associated during the medieval period with Wanibuchi-ji, a Tendai Buddhist temple that served as the shrine’s Buddhist temple. Buddhist monks recited and read scriptures at the shrine, whose precincts contained Buddhist halls, pagodas, and a sutra repository. During the rebuilding of 1667, the Izumo provincial governor’s family obtained permission to separate Buddhism and Shinto. Buddhist buildings were moved or removed, the sutra repository was demolished, and the former Buddhist-shrine complex was reorganized.
The shrine’s principal deity also changed in historical interpretation. During part of the medieval period and until the seventeenth century, the enshrined kami was identified as Susanoo rather than Okuninushi. An early Heian-period ceremonial declaration by the Izumo provincial governor identifies Okuninushi as the principal deity. The 1667 reorganization restored Okuninushi in accordance with the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.
Rebuilding and modern status
Major rebuilding campaigns took place in 1609 under Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s son, Toyotomi Hideyori, and in 1667 under the authority of shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna. The present main sanctuary was constructed in 1744. The shrine became a Kanpei-taisha in 1871, a status for government-supported major shrines, and became a Chokusaisha during the Taisho period, meaning that it was associated with imperial offerings and rites. It had this government-supported status until 1946.
Okuninushi’s association with marriage and good connections helped make Izumo a focus of popular devotion and pilgrimage, particularly from the Edo period onward. A longstanding belief holds that the kami of Japan gather at Izumo during the tenth month of the traditional calendar to deliberate on divine affairs, including human relationships. In Izumo this month is called Kamiarizuki, “the month with gods,” rather than Kannazuki, “the month without gods,” as elsewhere in Japan.
The annual Kamiari Festival takes place from the eleventh through the seventeenth day of the traditional tenth month. The kami are believed to arrive at Inasa Beach, near the shrine, before being received and housed in temporary sanctuaries. Improved travel during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries made Izumo Taisha a major pilgrimage destination. Its principal annual festival is held from May 14 to 16, alongside daily food-offering rites, the fire-drilling custom, a traditional New Year’s rite, and ceremonies connected with the hereditary governor’s dances.
The daily food offering is formally performed by the chief priest with approximately seven or eight priests, following the tradition that Amenohohi’s lineage should conduct Okuninushi’s worship. Substitute priests sometimes perform the rite. The fire-drilling custom was selected as a national intangible folk cultural property in 1975.
The shrine’s main sanctuary was designated a National Treasure in 1952. Izumo Taisha and the Izumo Taisha-kyo religious corporation were integrated in 1951. The shrine’s staff also serve Izumo Taisha-kyo, whose chief administrative office functions as the shrine’s religious-affairs department, while the Kitajima family separately leads Izumo-kyo. Izumo Taisha remains a Chokusaisha associated with imperial rites.
Fire, renewal, and archaeological interpretation
The main sanctuary has traditionally been renewed at intervals of approximately sixty to seventy years through sengu, the ceremonial transfer of the deity to temporary accommodation during rebuilding or major repair. Earlier recorded transfers occurred in 1809, 1881, and 1953. During the Heisei renewal, the deity moved to a temporary sanctuary in 2008 and returned to the restored main sanctuary in May 2013.
On May 27, 1953, a fire began in the Fire-Kindling Hall during the period marking the main sanctuary’s formal renewal. It spread to the worship hall and administrative office. The fire was attributed to carelessness with embers after people had finished making rice cakes and consumed alcohol. The worship hall was rebuilt in 1959 under the direction of architect Fukuyama Toshio, with Takamatsu-no-miya Nobuhito serving as president of the reconstruction effort.
The early Edo-period administrative office was also destroyed. Its replacement was designed by architect Kikutake Kiyonori and built from 1961 to 1963. The building received the fifteenth Architectural Institute of Japan Award. Deterioration of its concrete and metal components later led to a decision to replace it. Appeals for preservation were made in 2016, and the International Council on Monuments and Sites warned of its heritage value, but the replacement plan proceeded because the building was considered unsafe.
An archaeological investigation in 2000, carried out before construction of an underground ritual-preparation room, uncovered enormous bundled pillars and other objects, including magatama beads. Analysis indicated that the remains probably belonged to a medieval sanctuary with approximately the present plan, probably the building constructed in 1248. The discovery did not prove the existence of a prehistoric sanctuary 96 metres high, but it renewed debate about traditions of a much taller ancient building.
Izumo Taisha has also been associated with imperial visits, including Emperor Showa’s visit on November 30, 1947, the visit of Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun on May 1, 1965, and the visit of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on October 3, 2003.
Remains
Izumo Taisha stands at the foot of the sacred mountains Yakumo and Kamiyama in an old forested setting. Its compound includes the main sanctuary, worship hall, subsidiary shrines, ritual and administrative buildings, a pine-lined approach, and associated sacred landscape features. The main sanctuary is enclosed by three successive fences, the tamagaki, the mizugaki or cloister, and the aragaki. Its elevated timber construction belongs to Taisha-zukuri, an ancient shrine style characterized by a raised sanctuary, a large gabled roof, projecting roof finials, and a steep covered stairway.
Main sanctuary and central precinct
Honden
The present honden, or main sanctuary, dates from 1744. It is approximately 24 metres high and about 11 metres square at its base. The elevated timber structure rests on substantial pillars, and its plan is divided into four sections by a central support arrangement. The entrance is off-center, creating an asymmetrical plan. A massive, slightly curved gabled roof is covered with cypress bark and has broad projecting eaves, three katsuogi, or short logs along the ridge, and two chigi, the crossed roof-finial elements.
A steep flight of seventeen steps leads to the entrance beneath a separate sloping gabled roof. The sanctuary has double doors and an interior partition extending from the right wall toward the center. This partition conceals the go-shintai, the sacred object in which the kami is understood to reside or manifest, in a rear corner. A central pillar, the shin-no-mihashira, functions as a yorishiro, a material focus or temporary vessel for a kami. Some interpretations connect it symbolically with the heavenly pillar of myth.
Okuninushi’s divine seat is in the northeastern part of the honden and faces west rather than south toward the front. The reason remains uncertain. Explanations include the former identification of the deity with Susanoo and the arrangement of entrances and honored places in ancient raised-floor buildings. The ceiling is decorated with seven painted clouds. Five additional deities, known collectively as the five guest deities, occupy the northwestern part of the building: Amenominakanushi, Takamimusubi, Kamimusubi, Umashiashikabihikoji, and Amenotokotachi.
High-sanctuary tradition
Traditions preserve memories of a sanctuary far taller than the present honden. Motoori Norinaga recorded a height of sixteen jo, approximately 48 metres, for the medieval period and thirty-two jo, approximately 96 metres, for the ancient period. A Heian-period mnemonic poem also ranked the Izumo sanctuary among the largest buildings of its time. The interpretation remains debated because the direct evidence is late or circumstantial, although repeated collapses between the mid-Heian and early Kamakura periods and the discovery of large pillars support the possibility of an earlier high structure.
Three enormous cedar trunks were excavated near the honden in 2000. Each was formed from three pillars bound together and measured approximately 1.4 metres in diameter. The remains are associated with a medieval high-floor sanctuary and are displayed as part of the shrine’s archaeological interpretation. A reconstruction model showing a high sanctuary linked to the ground by a long stairway is displayed in the Shinko-den exhibition facility, which was renovated and reopened in 2017.
Worship hall
The haiden, or worship hall, stands in front of the honden. The present building was completed in 1959. It has a five-by-five-bay plan and a copper-covered roof. Its predecessor was built in 1519 under Amago Tsunehisa and richly decorated by the craftsman Tsuboi Osumi-no-kami before being destroyed in the 1953 fire. A large suspended shimenawa, a sacred straw rope marking a ritually pure or sacred space, hangs from the haiden.
Ritual and administrative buildings
Kagura-den
The Kagura-den stands west of the haiden, outside the aragaki. It began as a separate place of worship for Okuninushi when Izumo Taisha-kyo was founded in 1879. The building was rebuilt and enlarged in 1981 for the organization’s centenary. Its great hall measures approximately 270 tatami mats and incorporates stained glass beneath the front gable. Sacred dance, religious ceremonies, and weddings take place there.
A large shimenawa hangs beneath the Kagura-den’s front gable. It is approximately 13 metres long and weighs about 5.2 tonnes, with replacement taking place at intervals of several years. The Kagura-den complex also includes the Okunigaeri Hall, which houses the central administrative office of Izumo Taisha-kyo and contains a wedding hall on its second floor. A 47-metre flagpole stands south of the Kagura-den and can carry a flag approximately 8.7 by 13.6 metres in size and weighing about 50 kilograms.
Shokokan
The Shokokan is a two-storey building. Its first floor serves as a reception office for the Kagura-den, while its second floor is a museum for important objects. The displayed materials include jewelry, household objects, paintings, swords, musical instruments, an early wooden pestle, a fire-kindling board, and a small dugout boat believed to have reached Inasa Beach from the upper Yoshino River through the Seto Inland Sea.
Subsidiary shrines and sacred spaces
Inner subsidiary shrines
The inner precinct contains Mimukai-no-yashiro, dedicated to Suseribime, Okuninushi’s principal wife, and Amasaki-no-yashiro, dedicated to the shell deities who restored Okuninushi. Tsukushi-no-yashiro is dedicated to Takiribime. Two Monjin shrines protect the honden, while Soga-no-yashiro, dedicated directly to Susanoo, stands behind the honden between it and Mount Yakumo. Kama-no-yashiro is dedicated to Ukanomitama, and two Uji shrines honor Amenohohi and Miyamuko no Sukune.
Visiting-deity halls
Two Juku-sha halls house the visiting deities during the Kamiari Festival. Kamino-miya is the place where the deities are believed to hold their council during the festival. Shimono-miya is dedicated to Amaterasu. Harae-no-yashiro provides the setting for ritual purification before entry into the main precinct, while Inochinushi-no-yashiro, Ajiki-no-yashiro, Mitose-no-yashiro, Otomi-no-yashiro, Inasehagi-no-yashiro, Izumoi-no-yashiro, Inasa-no-yashiro, Minato-no-yashiro, and Otoshi-no-yashiro honor further kami associated with the shrine’s sacred landscape.
Nomi no Sukune Shrine
Nomi no Sukune Shrine stands west of the approach gate and northwest of the shrine’s sumo ground. It is dedicated to Nomi no Sukune, identified with the thirteenth hereditary governor of Izumo and traditionally regarded as the ancestor of sumo.
Approach, trees, and ritual objects
The approach is formed by an avenue lined with pine trees and was designated a municipal historic site in 1985. A large zelkova tree behind Inochinushi-no-yashiro was designated a municipal natural monument in 1991. The honden and its associated components received National Treasure status in 1952, while the Shokokan and the Uka Bridge Great Torii were registered as tangible cultural properties in 2015.
The shrine preserves musical instruments used in its rites. The kotoita is a box-shaped cedar board approximately 79 centimetres long and 24 centimetres wide, with an opening of about 11 centimetres on its underside. It is struck with a willow-branch beater approximately 71 centimetres long during several major ceremonies. The Izumo flute is a bamboo transverse flute wrapped in cherry bark and used during offerings.
Other archaeological finds connected with the precinct include magatama beads and the remains of the high-floor sanctuary. Copper halberds and additional magatama excavated at the Manai archaeological site east of the shrine are displayed at the Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo.
