Suwa Grand Shrine

Suwa Grand Shrine is a collective term for four shrine sites in Nagano Prefecture: the Upper Shrine Main Hall and Front Hall on the south shore of Lake Suwa, and the Lower Shrine Spring Hall and Autumn Hall on the north shore. It is the chief shrine (*ichinomiya*) of Shinano Province and the head shrine of all Suwa shrines throughout Japan. The principal enshrined kami of the Upper Shrine is Takeminakata-no-Kami; that of the Lower Shrine is Yasaka-Tome-no-Kami, consort of Takeminakata-no-Kami.

The four sites face each other across Lake Suwa, creating a unique ritual structure in which the lake itself is incorporated into the sacred precinct. Rather than maintaining a honden (main hall), the shrine complex preserves an older stratum of belief centred on a sacred mountain (Moriya-yama) and sacred trees.

According to the *Kojiki* (*Records of Ancient Matters*, 712 CE), Takeminakata-no-Kami appears in the account of the pacification of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni as a child of Ōkuninushi. He is said to have fled to Suwa after losing a trial of strength against Takemikazuchi-no-Kami and to have pledged to remain in the land, thereby completing the transfer of sovereignty. Suwa marks the endpoint of the *Kojiki*'s account of the age of the gods.

Tradition holds the shrine to date to the age of the gods. The *Engishiki* (*Procedures of the Engi Era*, 927 CE) registers it among the major shrines of Shinano, listing "Minakata-Tomi Shrines" in Suwa District. During the medieval period, the shrine received the patronage of military houses; prominent warlords including Minamoto no Yoritomo and Takeda Shingen held it in high reverence.

The *Onbashira Matsuri* (Pillar Festival), a rite of shrine renewal performed every six or seven years in zodiacal years of the Tiger and Monkey, is counted among Shinano's great festivals and is designated a Japanese Selected Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Sixteen large timber pillars are hauled from mountain forests by both Upper and Lower Shrine communities. Each of the four sites maintains ancient ritual calendars, including the Misayama Festival held on 27 August.