Togakushi Shrine

Togakushi Shrine (Togakushi-jinja) is a five-precinct mountain shrine on the slopes of Mount Togakushi (1,904 m) in Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, comprising the Hokosha, Hinomikosha, Chusha, Kuzuryusha, and Okusha precincts. According to the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), Mount Togakushi is identified with the rock that Ame-no-Tajikarao-no-Kami hurled away from the Ama-no-Iwato when Amaterasu-Omikami emerged, and the shrines enshrine the deities of this myth: Ame-no-Tajikarao at the Okusha, Ame-no-Yagokoro-Omoikane at the Chusha, and Ame-no-Uzume at the Hinomikosha. The shrine functioned as a major Shugendo center from the Heian period, supporting the so-called "Togakushi sennichi gyo" thousand-day ascetic practice. The Sannai cedar avenue leading to the Okusha is a Nagano Prefecture Natural Monument. The shrine was elevated to kokuhei shosha rank in the Meiji era.