Tamaki Shrine

Tamaki Shrine (Tamaki-jinja) stands at the summit area of Mount Tamaki (1,076 m) in Totsukawa Village, Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture, and is regarded as the okumiya of the Kumano Sanzan (Hongu, Hayatama, and Nachi). The main enshrined deities are Kuninotokotachi-no-Mikoto, Izanagi-no-Mikoto, Izanami-no-Mikoto, Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto, Takamimusubi-no-Kami, and Kamimusubi-no-Kami. According to the Kojiki (712 CE) opening section, Kuninotokotachi appears among the seven divine generations of the heavenly origin. Shrine tradition holds that the shrine was founded in 37 BCE during the reign of Emperor Sujin. The shrine flourished from the Heian period as a key Shugendo monastery on the Omine-Okugake ascetic route connecting Yoshino and Kumano, with the present main hall, kushige-mon, and shrine office hall (mid-Edo period) designated National Important Cultural Properties. It is a constituent site of the UNESCO World Heritage "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range."