is a

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...

shrine located in

Tenri is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. The modern city was founded on April 1, 1954, and is named after the Japanese new religion Tenrikyo, which has its headquarters in the city. As of April 1, 2015, the city has an estimated population ...

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. In the time of

Emperor Sujin , also known as in the ''Kojiki'', and or in the '' Nihon Shoki'' was the tenth Emperor of Japan. While Sujin is the first emperor whose existence historians widely accept, he is still referred to as a "legendary emperor" due to a lack of info ...

there was a crisis. Amaterasu ( via the Yata-no-Kagami and the Kusanagi sword) and Yamato Okunitama, the

tutelary deity A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety a ...

of Yamato, were originally worshipped in the great hall of the imperial palace. When a series of plagues broke out during Emperor Sujin's reign, he "dreaded ..the power of these Gods, and did not feel secure in their dwelling together." He thus entrusted the mirror and the sword to his daughter Toyosukiirihime, who brought them to the village of Kasanuhi, and delegated the worship of Yamato Okunitama to another daughter, ,but her health began to fail shortly afterward. It is recorded that Nunakiiri-hime became

emaciated Emaciation is defined as the state of extreme thinness from absence of body fat and muscle wasting usually resulting from malnutrition. Characteristics In humans, the physical appearance of emaciation includes thinned limbs, pronounced and protru ...

after losing all of her hair, which rendered her unable to perform her duties. would conduct the Okunitama rites replacing the emaciated . would be the ancestor of the

Yamato clan The , also known as , was an immigrant clan active in Japan since the Kofun period (250–538), according to the history of Japan laid out in the '' Nihon Shoki''. The name ''fuhito'' comes from their occupation as scribes. They were descended fro ...

. This replacement is taken as a shift towards more patriarchai religion. When the pestilence showed no sign of abating, he then performed

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

, which revealed the plague to have been caused by

Ōmononushi Ōmononushi ( ja, 大物主神, Ōmononushi-no-Kami; historical orthography: ''Ohomononushi'') is a ''kami'' in Japanese mythology associated with Mount Miwa (also known as Mount Mimoro) in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture. He is closely linked in the ...

, the god of Mount Miwa. When the god was offered proper worship as per his demands, the epidemic ceased. After this Ōyamato Shrine was founded for Yamato Okunitama and the descendants of the

serve the shrine to this day. The shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the early

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...

. In 965,

Emperor Murakami was the 62nd emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 村上天皇 (62)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Murakami's reign spanned the years from 946 to his death in 967. Biography Before he ascended to ...

ordered that Imperial messengers were sent to report important events to the guardian of Japan. These were initially presented to 16 shrines including the Ōyamato Shrine. From 1871 through 1946, the Ōyamato Shrine was officially designated one of the , meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines. The shrine was a guardian shrine of Japanese battleship Yamato.

References

Shinto shrines in Nara Prefecture Kanpei Taisha Beppyo shrines Myōjin Taisha Twenty-Two Shrines Yamato clan Kasuga-zukuri {{Miwa and Yamato Faith

See also

References