Karatsu Shrine

Karatsu Shrine, located in Minamijonai, Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture, served as the chief tutelary shrine of the early-modern Karatsu castle town. The principal deities are the three Sumiyoshi kami (Sokotsutsuo, Nakatsutsuo, and Uwatsutsuo) together with Koda Munetsugu; the Nihon Shoki records the birth of the Sumiyoshi deities in the prelude to Empress Jingu's campaigns. According to tradition, the shrine originated when Empress Jingu enshrined the Sumiyoshi deities on her return from the Korean expedition. In the early-modern period it was developed as the tutelary shrine of the Karatsu domain under the Terasawa clan, and the Karatsu Kunchi hikiyama processions formed during the Edo period, the earliest being the Aka-jishi of 1819. The Kunchi held November 2-4 is designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and was inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2016.