History of Aoshima Shrine 青島神社の歴史

Official explanation

Aoshima has been considered sacred since ancient times, when the island itself is thought to have been worshiped as the abode of the divine. Long before a bridge was built to the island, people would wade to it at low tide, purifying themselves in the sea before conducting rituals. The earliest records that mention a shrine here date to the Heian period (794–1185). Aoshima Shrine grew in stature during the Edo period (1603–1867), when it benefited from the patronage of the Ito family, daimyo lords of the Obi domain (the southern coastal region of present-day Miyazaki Prefecture). In 1737 they lifted a ban that had until then prevented everyone except the shrine’s priests and high-ranking officials from setting foot on the sacred ground of Aoshima.

Aoshima Shrine has close ties with the legend of Yamasachi-hiko and Princess Toyotama, which appears in the Kojiki, the first written chronicle in Japan, said to have been written in the eighth century. This story is one of the tales that follow the Japanese creation myth and explain the divine origins of the imperial line. It describes the love affair of Yamasachi-hiko, a master hunter, and Toyotama, daughter of the deity of the sea. The two meet by the sea, in a place described in Aoshima folklore as a location “where ducks come to spend the winter,” and have a child, but are ultimately separated for eternity—a key event in the myth that marks the split between the mortal world and the realm of the gods. Yamasachi-hiko, Toyotama, and Shiotsuchi, a figure who in the legend helps the two lovers find each other, are the deities enshrined at Aoshima Shrine, which was once called Kamotsukumiya (“the shrine where ducks rest”). The story of Yamasachi-hiko and Toyotama can be explored in more detail at the shrine museum.

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.