Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine 河口浅間神社全体概要

Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine is known for its approach lined with sacred cedars. There are seven other sacred cedars on the shrine precincts that are over 1,200 years old, predating the shrine.

In the early nineteenth century, along with other Sengen shrines, Kawaguchi Asama-jinja came to worship Konohanasakuya-hime, a flower goddess who is the daughter of the mountain deity Oyamatsumi. The flower goddess’s grandson, Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto, is honored at an affiliated shrine on Cape Ubuyagasaki. The two shrines celebrate Magomi no hi, “grandchild-viewing day,” on April 25, and the ceremonies include carrying the flower goddess in a portable mikoshi shrine to visit her grandson on the cape.

Chigo no Mai: The Children’s Dance

The architecture of Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine is in the wari-haiden (“divided worship hall”) style characteristic of Sengen shrines, with two main buildings separated by an open space under a single roof. At this shrine, the open space is used for the traditional Chigo no Mai, the “Children’s Dance.”

Chigo no Mai is a sacred offering performed in traditional costume by local girls aged 7 to 12. The dance is staged twice a year: before the April 25th “grandchild-viewing” ritual, and as part of the sacred kagura music festival on July 28.