Izumo Taisha

photo by Saigen Jiro · CC0

photo by G41rn8 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The shimenawa of the Kagura-den: 5.2 tonnes, 13 metres, remade by hand elsewhere.

The pine avenue leads to the Honden, the house of the god Ōkuninushi: 24 metres high, it was rebuilt in 1744 in the taisha-zukuri style and has been a National Treasure since 1952. Next to it, the Kaguraden displays the largest shimenawa (the sacred rope of braided straw that marks a Shinto site) in Japan: 13 metres, 5.2 tonnes, braided by hand in the nearby town of Iinan and replaced every few years using a crane. In the tenth lunar month, which the rest of Japan calls 神無月 (month without gods), there are celebrations here, because all eight million kami are believed to gather in this place: the month becomes 神在月, month with the gods.

Shinto shrine in Izumo, among the oldest in Japan according to tradition: the first records of restorations date back to 659, under Empress Saimei. The current Honden, about 24 metres high, was rebuilt in 1744 and has been a National Treasure since 1952; twenty-one buildings and a torii (the gate that marks the entrance to a sacred area) have been Important Cultural Properties since 2004. It is dedicated to Ōkuninushi, a deity of bonds (not only marital ones), and is the destination of one of the most widely practised Shinto pilgrimages in Japan.

ℹ️ Open 6:00–19:00 every day (the area behind the Honden closes at 16:30); the amulet and goshuin office is open 8:30–16:30. Seven minutes on foot from Izumo-taisha-mae Station on the Ichibata Dentetsu, or Ichibata bus from JR Izumo-shi.

🚉 Izumo Taisha-mae · 10 min walk

Sources: izumooyashiro.or.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

All series · Open the map