Tsubaki Okami Yashiro

Tsubaki Okami Yashiro (Tsubaki-daijinja) stands in Yamamoto-cho, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, at the foot of Mount Nyudo on the Suzuka mountain range, and is counted as an ichinomiya of Ise Province. The main enshrined deity is Sarutahiko-no-Okami, recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE) as the earthly deity who met Ninigi-no-Mikoto at the heavenly fork and guided the heavenly descent. The shrine is regarded as the head shrine of the nationwide Sarutahiko cult network, with branch shrines across Japan including the Sarutahiko Shrine in Ise City. According to shrine tradition, the shrine was founded at the close of the divine age as the rock-cult site at the foot of the sacred mountain where Sarutahiko returned. The shrine is recorded in the Engishiki (927 CE) jinmyocho of the Suzuka district of Ise Province as "Tsubaki-jinja, Myojin Dai." It was elevated to kensha rank in the Meiji era.