Onotsu Shrine

 

While walking along the north shore of Lake Shinji, the first shrine of interest I visited was Onotsu Shrine.

This is yet another shrine that is listed in both the Izumo Fudoki and the Engi Shiki, indicating it is very old and important.

It enshrines Susanoo. After he slew the Orochi serpent, some of its bones and horns washed up on the shore here and are enshrined in the honden.

The shrine is known for a rain-making ritual, although it has not been performed since 1939. For three days the priests gather here and pray, and then the bones are taken out by boat to a spot offshore.

One source claims that the spot the boat goes out to is above a sunken torii that marks t where diagonal lines from the 4 sacred mountains around Lake Shinji cross.

Secondary shrines within the grounds include a Konpira, Shingu, Hiyoshi, Aragami, and  Himosaki shrines.

The dragon/serpent statue is the same style as some I have seen in the Izumo area representing Kojin, the land kami usually represented by a straw rope, yet here the statue has no altar in front of it which suggests it is not Kojin. Maybe it is just a nod to Yamata no Orochi.

The previous post was on the walk along the north shore of Shinji.

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts