Tamashima-jinja

Tamashima Shrine (Tamashima-jinja) stands in Hamatamamachi Tamashima, Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture, on the lower reaches of the Tamashima River near the Matsuura coast. According to shrine tradition based on the Nihon Shoki (720 CE) and the Manyoshu, Empress Jingu, on her way to the Silla campaign, stopped at Tamashima and used a needle as a fishhook to divine her success; the shrine identifies this spot as the place where she composed a poem preserved in the Manyoshu. The main enshrined deities are Tamashima-Hime-no-Mikoto (a local goddess identified with the Empress's consort deity), with Empress Jingu and Emperor Ojin as co-enshrined deities. The shrine is recorded in the Engishiki (927 CE) jinmyocho of the Matsura district of Hizen Province. It was elevated to gosha rank in the Meiji era and continues as a Jinja Honcho registered shrine maintained by the local community.