Yahiko Shrine

Yahiko Shrine (Yahiko-jinja) is located in Yahiko, Yahiko Village, Nishikanbara District, Niigata Prefecture, at the eastern foot of Mount Yahiko (634 m). It is the ichinomiya (first-ranked shrine) of Echigo Province and was a former Kokuhei Chusha. The principal deity is Ame-no-Kagoyama-no-Mikoto (also called Iyahiko-no-Okami), recorded in Shinsen Shojiroku as the ancestral deity of the Owari-no-Muraji and other clans, and in Kojiki (712 CE) as a deity in the lineage attending Ninigi-no-Mikoto's descent from the heavens. Shrine tradition holds that Ame-no-Kagoyama landed at Nozumi Beach in the reign of Emperor Jinmu and later settled at Yahiko, where he taught marine products, sake-brewing, rice cultivation, and sericulture. The shrine name Iyahiko appears in the Man'yoshu (volume 16). Listed in Engishiki Jinmyocho (927 CE) as Iyahiko-jinja (Myojin-Taisha) of Kanbara district, Echigo. The present main hall was rebuilt in 1916 after a fire in 1912. Principal festivals include the Toro Shinji (Feb 2) and the grand festival on July 25.