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Key Details
Type
TempleMythology
Japanese Pantheon
Coordinates
35.402°N, 132.6855°E
About This Location
Okuninushi's great shrine
Izumo Taisha is the chief shrine of Okuninushi, the earth-god who cedes the land to Amaterasu's descendants in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. The kuni-yuzuri (land-cession) is the charter: he keeps the unseen world and marriage, they keep the political sky. The shrine's huge ancient pillars are archaeology; the myth is the handover. Kamiari-zuki, the tenth month when gods gather at Izumo, is a calendar note, not a novel.
Primary Sources
“Okuninushi said: If you will take me, I will yield the Central Land of Reed Plains.”
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