Ogamiyama Shrine has a long and somewhat unusual history. It is mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki, and is listed in the Engi Shiki, and is the Ninomiya, second-ranked shrine, of Hoki Province.
Mount Daisen has long been a sacred mountain, and the shrine's origins lie in a small shrine built high up on the mountain by ascetic monks.
As the mountain was covered in deep snow during the winter, a second shrine, this shrine, was built down below so people could worship in the winter. The top shrine became known as the summer shrine and this one was the winter shrine.
The kami enshrined here is Okuninushi. In ancient times, when the Fudoki were written, Okuninushi was considered to reside in/on Mount Daisen. All the stories of Okuninushi come from what is now Tottori, and at the northern base of Daisen is a Yayoi settlement that was one of the biggest in all of Japan, a strong possibility for the capital of an Izumo Polity that ceded the country to the Yamato.
As the mountain shifted to a more Buddhist-oriented mountain worship, the main deity of the mountain became Jizo.
The mountain was a huge shugendo centre with at one point 189 sub-temples and a community of 3,000 "warrior monks". The most famous warrior monk was Benkei, and there are stories that he spent time on Daisen.
The current shrine buildings date to the mid-Edo period. The grounds have 1,000 Hydrangea bushes, and this is one of the top hydrangea spots in Tottori.
The Tottori Association of Shrines says that along with Okuninushi, also enshrined here is Oyamatsumi, Susano, & Sukunahikona.
Secondary shrines in the grounds include a Misaki Shrine enshrining Amaterasu and two other kami.
In 1868 with the separation of Buddhas and Kami, Jizo was removed from the shrine at 900m, the summer shrine, and it became the Okumiya, inner shrine; this shrine, the winter shrine, became the main shrine.
Flanked by two foxes is the "worship from afar" shrine, enabling those unable to climb the mountain to the inner shrine to worship from afar.
As well as the hydrangeas, the large shrine grounds also includes one of the biggest Iris gardens in the San-in region.
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