Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha

Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha (Tsuchizaki Shinmei-sha) stands in Tsuchizaki Port, Akita City, Akita Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast. The main enshrined deity is Amaterasu-Omikami, the principal deity of Ise Jingu Naiku, recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE) as the imperial ancestral deity. According to shrine tradition, the shrine was founded in the early Edo period as a local Ise-lineage shrine (shinmeisha) following the diffusion of Ise belief through the Onshi pilgrim-priest networks of the seventeenth century. The shrine served as the tutelary of the Tsuchizaki Port community of the Kubota domain. The annual Tsuchizaki Minato festival, held July 20-21 and featuring the parade of decorated Kayabune floats, is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage element under "Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan" inscribed in 2016 and is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.