Washinomiya Shrine

Washinomiya Shrine (Washinomiya-jinja) is located in Washinomiya, Kuki City, Saitama Prefecture, in the Tone River basin of the northern Kanto plain. It is said to be among the oldest shrines of the Kanto region. The shrine is not listed in Engishiki Jinmyocho but is mentioned in Engishiki Norito and Shinpen Musashi Fudoki-ko as a sanctuary connected with the Haji clan. The principal deities are Ame-no-Hohi-no-Mikoto and his son Takehinatori-no-Mikoto, with Onamuchi-no-Mikoto in joint enshrinement. Kojiki (712 CE, upper volume, kuni-yuzuri section) records Ame-no-Hohi as the first heavenly deity dispatched to Okuninushi. Takehinatori (also Takehiratori-no-Mikoto in Kojiki) is recorded as Hohi's son and the ancestor of the Izumo-no-Kuni-no-Miyatsuko and the Haji clan. The precinct adjoins the Washinomiya tumulus group (Saitama prefectural historic site), suggesting an early Izumo-clan presence in eastern Japan. The shrine received Kamakura-shogunate, Hojo, and Tokugawa patronage with a 200-koku vermilion-seal grant in the Edo period and was ranked as a prefectural shrine in 1885. The main hall (Saitama prefectural cultural property) was rebuilt in the late Edo period. Hajiichiryu-Saibara Kagura, performed six times a year, is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.