Tado-taisha

Tado Taisha (Tado-taisha) stands in Tado-cho, Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture, at the southern foot of the Tado mountain range. The main enshrined deity is Ame-no-Tsuhayame-no-Mikoto, traditionally identified as the elder brother of the deity of Ise Jingu's inner shrine, and an Ise-related deity. The shrine is recorded in the Engishiki (927 CE) jinmyocho of the Kuwana district of Ise Province as "Tado-jinja, Myojin Dai." From the medieval period the shrine has been paired with Ise Jingu in the folk saying "having gone to Ise, do not fail to go to Tado." Originally an iwakura-style mountain-worship site, the shrine fell under shinbutsu-shugo influence as Tado Sangu Daibosatsu and was attached to a betto-ji until the Meiji separation of kami and Buddha. It was elevated to kokuhei taisha rank in the Meiji era. The Tado Festival held May 4-5, featuring the Ageuma Shinji horse-leap ritual, is a Mie Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property.