Udo Jingu

Udo Jingu (鵜戸神宮) is a Shinto shrine in Miyaura, Nichinan, Miyazaki Prefecture, with its main hall located inside a coastal cave (approximately 38 m deep, 19 m wide) on the Hyuga coast. The principal kami is Ugayafukiaezu-no-Mikoto, recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE) as the son of Hikohohodemi-no-Mikoto and Toyotama-bime-no-Mikoto, born in a birthing hut roofed with cormorant feathers — the source of the place name Udo. Auxiliary kami include Amaterasu-Omikami, Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, Hikohohodemi-no-Mikoto, and Emperor Jimmu, forming the six-deity Hyuga imperial lineage. According to shrine tradition, the shrine was founded during the reign of Emperor Sujin, restored by the monk Koukibo Kaiyuu in 782 CE, and ranked as a national shrine of the highest grade in 1915.