Akita Suwa Shrine

Akita Suwa Shrine is a shrine situated in Akita Prefecture and ranks among the Northeast's Suwa-faith shrines, having received a transfer of the principal enshrined kami (shusaijin) from Suwa Grand Shrine in Shinano Province. Its shrine rank is traditionally recorded as that of a former village-ranked shrine. It has been maintained as the tutelary shrine of the local community.

The shrine occupies a place as the tutelary protector of a rural settlement within Akita Prefecture. Registered with the Akita Prefecture Shrine Registry, its main hall (honden) and worship hall (haiden) exemplify the typical architectural arrangement of early modern period shrines in the Northeast region. Ancient cedars remain within the shrine precincts, and it has taken root in the community as the focal point of local festivals and rites.

According to tradition, the principal enshrined kami are Takeminakata-no-Kami and Yasaka-Tome-no-Kami, transferred from Suwa Grand Shrine. The *Kojiki* (Records of Ancient Matters, 712 CE) records in its upper scroll that Takeminakata-no-Kami was the offspring of Ōkuninushi-no-Kami and, in the land-transfer narrative, competed in strength with Takemikazuchi-no-Kami before fleeing to Suwa. Yasaka-Tome-no-Kami is recorded in the *Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba* (an illustrated narrative text of the Heian period) as the consort deity of Takeminakata-no-Kami.

The founding date is unknown. Many Suwa-faith shrines throughout the Northeast are said to have been established through the propagation of Suwa worship during the medieval period and early modern period, and Akita Suwa Shrine is believed to have arisen through similar circumstances. Local records are said to preserve an account of its development as the community's tutelary shrine during the early modern feudal administration, marking it as a historic centre of Suwa faith in Akita Prefecture.