Itakiso Shrine



日本語



I-no-mori The former shrine


Traffic Guide
JR Hanwa-line Tennouji→Wakayama(1h,¥830)
Nankai Kishigawa-line Wakayama→Idakiso(19min,¥280)

Dedicatee
Spirit Itakeru,Female Spirit Ohya-tsu-hime,Female Spirit Tsuma-tsu-hime ,who are brothers and sisters.
Spirit Itakeru is also called Spirit Ohyahiko or Spirit Isaoshi(useful).
He is the Spirit of boats,trees and life.

Origin
  According to the first note of Nihon-shoki,Spirit Susa-no-wo made beard into Japanese cedar,chest hair into Japanese cypress,buttock hair into Japanese torreya and eyebrow into camphor tree.They said that Japanese cedar and camphor tree is a good for boats,Japanese cypress is good for shrines and Japanese torreya is good for coffins.
So,Spirit Susa-no-wo recommended to sow them and Spirit Itakeru,Female Spirit Ohya-tsu-hime,Female Spirit Tsuma-tsu-hime,who are his sons and daughters,seeded them widely.Therefore,Spirit Itakeru is said "Great Spirit of Ki-i country(Now Wakayama and Mie prefecture)".*1
Spirit Itakeru story is a legend about the introduction of needlereef trees. Before later-Jomon period,there were a lot of laurilignosa and little needlereef trees.In later-Jomon period,needlereef trees such as pine trees were brought from China or Korea.
Some people says that Spirit Susa-no-wo (Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness) is the Spirit of typhoon and Spirit Itakeru is the agent of him,as the Spirit of heavy typhoon.*2
  Typhoon 12th in 1996 passded the area where these Spirits are dedicated. That is Shimabara,Ariake,Tsukushi,Tamba,Sado and Mutsu.
According to "Uwatsu-ki" written in 1223, Spirit Itakeru completed the oldest character of Japan called "Jingu Moji".*4

Place changes of Shrine Idakiso
A lot of people who worked at forests or seas were in Ki-i country and the mouth of Kinokawa-river was the good port of fine quality woods.Shrine Idakiso was near there,Akizuki(now Shrine Nitizen-gu).After the Ki family dominated the North of Ki-i country,this shrine were obliged to move into Inomori at Sando(now Shrine Mibu,500 meters south-east from the present place).At that time the shrine dedicated Spirit Itakeru,Female Spirit Ohya-tsu-hime and Female Spirit Tsuma-tsu-hime.And then the three Spirit and Female Spirit dedicated three different shrines and the shrine dedicating Spirit Itakeru constructed at Idakiso.Mr.Suzuo Oku,the priest of Shrine Idakiso,say that these three shrines place on the circle which center is Akizuki and radius is 5km like a stationary orbit.
Kire kitchen midden is in a litte west of the shrine and this means that Sando was the seaside and there are a lot of remains of Jomon-period in Oike,a little east of the shrine.Therefore,we can say that the area around Sando was cultivated in ancient time.By the way,Sando is next to Susa or Oku-Susa.It is interesting that these areas occures me Spirit Susa-no-wo.

Spirit of trees
Steal is necessity for arms,shipbuilding and tools for reclaiming field or river improvement.So,charcoal for iron manufacture is the important strategic goods.Wakayama area play an important part as a charcol-production district because the climate is worm enough to grow woods.Of course the quality of charcoal was very good.
In Wakayama,a lot of charcoal was producted before wwU.So,the Spirit of trees are still respected.Then a lot of scholars says Spirit Susa-no-wo is the Spirit of iron manufacture.

House of worship


View
This shrine is beautiful.There is a large Japanese torreya at the side of torii and it is suitable for the shrine dedicated the Spirit of trees.There was a holy wood,a large Japanese cedar which age was some hundreds old.But it deid after wwU.There is a beautiful harmony between the color of the pond and that of Taiko bridge.

House of the Spirit. Hon-den


Picture From Kii-koku Meisho-zue made at Edo-jidai.


Festival
In the festival day,the Spirit isn't in heaven but in the shrine.Let's visit the shrine and pay offertories.

Jan.14,15 Ujyo-sai praying a lot of harvest
Apr. 1st Sunday Ki-matsuri praying the good growth of trees
Jul.30th Chinowa-sai Going trough the special ring,you must be healthy. Legend of Shourai Somin.
Oct.15th Autumn festival thanks for rich harvest with Mikoshi.

Family shrine
Shrine Nyu   Spiritness Nyu-tsu-hime(2.5km north of Shrine Idakiso) the holiest place.
Shrine Susa   Spirit Susa-no-wo(1 minite walk from Senda bus stop,for Tamura-Yuasa from JR Minoshima station)*3

Friend shrine
Gion-sha Spirit Susa-no-wo
Ebisu-sha Spirit Ebisu
Iwa-mado-sha The Spirit of house
Mii-sha The Spirit of clean
Mibu Shrine Former Shine Idakiso with typical shrine forest

*1 Nihon no kamigami(Matsumae Takeshi)
*2 Doutaku he no chousen(Harada Dairoku)
*3 Wakayama-ken no rekishi sanpo
*4 Shindai-moji no nazo
*5 Wakayama-ken Jinja-shi

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