Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine 土崎神明社

Official explanation

Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine is dedicated to Amaterasu Ōmikami, the Shinto sun deity who is considered the ancestor of the imperial family. The shrine’s most important annual festival is the Tsuchizaki Minato Hikiyama Matsuri, which is renowned for its two-day parade of large wooden floats pulled through the streets. Although the main festival activities are held on July 20 and 21, various rituals and offerings begin in May and last through September. The festival was inscribed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2016.

The shrine was established in 1620 by Kawaguchi Sōjiro (dates unknown), the kimoiri, or town head, of Tsuchizaki. Kawaguchi received a request for a shrine from residents who were concerned that there was no place near the port to pray and was granted permission from the daimyo lord Satake Yoshinobu (1570–1633) to build Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine. The shrine was constructed on the former site of Minato Castle, the seat of government of the daimyo lord who had preceded Satake.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.