Tsushima Shrine

Tsushima Shrine (Tsushima-jinja) stands in Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture, on the lower reaches of the Kiso River, and is the head shrine of the nationwide Tsushima/Tennoo shrine network of more than 3,000 branch shrines. The main enshrined deity is Susanoo-no-Mikoto (medievally venerated as Gozu Tenno), recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE) as the offspring of Izanagi and the slayer of the Yamata-no-Orochi. According to shrine tradition, the shrine was founded in 540 CE during the reign of Emperor Kinmei. In the medieval period the Gozu Tenno cult, identified syncretically with Susanoo, spread the Tsushima lineage across central Japan as a protector against epidemic disease, and the shrine was venerated by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The main hall, the offering hall, and other structures (Momoyama to early Edo period) are Important Cultural Properties. The Tsushima Tenno festival in July is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.