is a Shinto shrine in the city of Yaizu

Yaizu, Shizuoka

is a city located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of March in 2011, the city has an estimated population of 146,717 and a population density of 2,080 persons per km². The total area is 70.55 km²...

 in Shizuoka Prefecture

Shizuoka Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The shrine is also referred to as the .The main festival of the shrine is annually on August 13.

Enshrined kami

The primary kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

of Yaizu is the , the legendary 4th century AD prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Emperor Keikō

Emperor Keiko

; also known as Ootarashihikooshirowake no Sumeramikoto, was the 12th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 71–130.-Legendary narrative:Keikō is...

, whose legends are detailed in the Japanese chronicles Kojiki

Kojiki

is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

and Nihon Shoki

Nihon Shoki

The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...

.

Per one of the legends in the Yamato Takeru cycle, Emperor Keikō sent him to the eastern provinces, whose Kuni no miyatsuko

Kuni no miyatsuko

Kuni no miyatsuko were officials in ancient Japan at the time of the Yamato court.They were in charge of provinces , although it is not always very clear what those provinces were...

had rebelled against the imperial court. His enemies attempted to kill him by setting fire to a grassy plain, but he escaped by using the powers of his magical sword, the Kusanagi no tsurugi

Kusanagi

is a legendary Japanese sword and one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan. It was originally called but its name was later changed to the more popular Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi .-Legends:...

and two magic stones. The sword, one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan

Imperial Regalia of Japan

The , also known as the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, consist of the sword Kusanagi , the mirror Yata no Kagami , and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama...

 is kept at Atsuta Shrine

Atsuta Shrine

is a Shinto shrine traditionally believed to have been established during the reign of Emperor Keikō located in Atsuta-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in Japan. The shrine is familiarly known as Atsuta-Sama or simply as Miya...

 in Nagoya, along with one of the magic stones. Yaizu Jinja claims to have the remaining stone, as well as to have been built on the location of Yamato Takeru’s miraculous escape.

The remaining three kami enshrined at Yaizu Jinja are the three main retainers of Yamato Takeru during his voyage east, including his brother-in-law , and

Yaizu Jinja also has numerous small subsidiary shrines dedicated to various kami within its precincts.

History

The date of Yaizu Jinja’s foundation is unknown. Per shrine tradition it was founded in 409. In the early Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

 Engishiki

Engishiki

-History:In 905 Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of a new set of laws. Fujiwara no Tokihira began the task, but work stalled when he died four years later in 909. His brother Fujiwara no Tadahira continued the work in 912 eventually completing it in 927...

records, the shrine is mentioned as one of four shrines in Mashizu District of Suruga Province

Suruga Province

was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka prefecture. It was sometimes called . Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and had access to the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay.-History:...

. The shrine was patronized by the Imagawa clan

Imagawa clan

The was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Emperor Seiwa . It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan.-Origins:Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in the 13th century at Imagawa and took its name.Imagawa Norikuni received from his cousin the...

 in the Muromachi period

Muromachi period

The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...

, and given revenues of 500 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

for its upkeep. This was reduced to a 70 koku stipend in the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 b the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

. In 1883, Yaizu Jinja was recognized as a “Prefectural Shrine” under the State Shinto

State Shinto

has been called the state religion of the Empire of Japan, although it did not exist as a single institution and no "Shintō" was ever declared a state religion...

 system.

Festivals

• Aramatsuri (annually on August 12 - 13) is the shrine’s main festival. It involves a procession with two mikoshi
  Mikoshi
  A is a divine palanquin . Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle to transport a deity in Japan while moving between main shrine and temporary shrine during a festival or when moving to a new shrine...
  
  and is considered one of the roughest festivals in the Tōkai region
  Tokai region
  The is a sub-region of the Chūbu region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name means "East sea" and comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes...
  
  .