Kashima Grand Shrine

Kashima Grand Shrine stands in Kashima city, Ibaraki Prefecture, as the ichi-no-miya of former Hitachi Province. Its principal enshrined kami (shusaijin) is Takemikazuchi-no-Okami. The shrine is counted among the three great shrines of the eastern provinces together with Katori Grand Shrine and Ikisu Shrine, and held the rank of a former official great shrine (kyū-kanpei-taisha).

The shrine sits on the southern edge of the Kashima plateau, sandwiched between Lake Kasumigaura, Lake Kitaura, and the Pacific Ocean, within the Shrine Forest (a prefectural natural monument). The place-name 'Kashima' appears in the Fudoki (regional gazetteers, 8th c.) as the seat of 'the great deity of heaven at Kashima', marking an ancient crossroads for maritime transport and northeastern governance in the eastern provinces.

According to the Kojiki, Takemikazuchi-no-Okami, acting on the command of Amaterasu-no-Omikami, descended to Izumo alongside Amatsu-Kunitane-no-Kami to compel Okuninushi-no-Okami to yield the land. Tradition holds that the deity and his companion kami then advanced the pacification of the eastern provinces; in later periods, Takemikazuchi-no-Okami came to be revered as a deity of the sword.

Shrines tradition places its foundation in the reign of the first Emperor Jinmu. The shrine is named in the Fudoki (c. 721 CE) as 'the great deity of heaven at Kashima' and in the Engishiki's Register of Shrines (927 CE) as a major shrine. From the medieval period onward, it received the patronage of warrior clans; Minamoto no Yoritomo and the Tokugawa house both sponsored the construction of its shrine buildings. The main hall (honden), worship hall (haiden), and gate tower are designated important cultural properties; the sacred sword 'Futsunomitama-no-Tsurugi' is designated a national treasure.

Major festivals include the annual festival on 9 September, the Ship Festival (Mifune Matsuri) held every twelve years in the Year of the Horse (conducted jointly with Katori Grand Shrine as a sessional great festival), and the Festival of the Ritual Heads (Saitō Matsuri) on 9 March.