Chinju Hikawa Shrine

Chinju Hikawa Shrine (Chinju Hikawa-jinja) stands in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, as a regional Hikawa shrine in the Musashi Province Hikawa cult network. The main enshrined deity is Susanoo-no-Mikoto, with Kushinadahime-no-Mikoto and Okuninushi-no-Kami as co-enshrined deities, following the pantheon of the head shrine Omiya Hikawa Shrine in Saitama City. Susanoo is recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE) as the offspring of Izanagi and the slayer of the Yamata-no-Orochi. According to shrine tradition, the shrine was founded in the medieval period as a settlement tutelary by transferring the Hikawa deities from Omiya. It was designated a village shrine in the Meiji era and continues as a Jinja Honcho registered shrine. It is known among photographers and visitors for the rainbow-color thousand braided cord (gosaisen) and the seasonal flower-water display in the precincts.