Hikawa Nyotai Shrine

Hikawa Nyotai Shrine in Midori Ward, Saitama City, stands on the southeastern rim of the former Minuma wetlands. With the Omiya Hikawa Shrine and Nakayama Shrine it forms the triad of "three Hikawa shrines" of former Musashi Province. The main deity is Kushinada-hime, recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE) Yamata no Orochi episode as the wife of Susanoo. Mihotsu-hime and Onamuchi no Mikoto are enshrined alongside. The three Hikawa shrines together represent a male-female-child constellation of Susanoo, Kushinada-hime and their descendant Okuninushi. Shrine tradition places the founding in the reign of Emperor Sujin. The current main hall, a Saitama prefectural cultural property, was rebuilt in 1667 by Tokugawa Ietsuna. The traditional Minuma boat festival was discontinued after the Edo-period reclamation of Minuma; the May Iwafune Festival reenacts it on land.