Suta Shrine & Iwasaki Shrine

 

While crossing a hilly section between the Ou Plain and the Inashi River Valley, I stopped in at a couple of small shrines.

The first, Suta Shrine, was mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki as a fertility shrine and was also listed in the Engi Shiki.

However, during the Edo Period it became associated with Inari worship, and that is the kami listed now as the main kami.

The secondary kami is Kanayamahiko, a kami of metals and mining, and was brought here in 1911 during the shrine consolidation program when a nearby shrine, Suda Hei Shrine, was transferred here. It too was a shrine mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki. Another shrine, Iu no Mori Shrine, was merged with Suta Shrine in 1874. That kami is Yatsukamizuomizu, a water kami, grandfather of Okuninushi and great, great, grandson of Susano.

A little further and I came to Iwasaki Shrine.

It is actually not much more than a small honden inside a structure to protect it from the weather.

There is no kami listed for the shrine although it was known as Gion-sha locally as it had been effective against plague earlier. Behind the small honden is a large rock and it is quite probable that this was the original objectb of worship.

Right next to the entrance to the shrine is a shrine to Toshitokujin. On the map, I had passed near  quite a few of these on this walk. It seems that Higashi Izumo was a centre of Toshitokujin worship, an Onmyodo deity.

The previous post in this series on day 44 of my Chugoku Pilgrimage was on the walk across the Ou Plain.

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