Tsubaki Jinja, Nagoya

This shrine is on a busy corner near the Shinkansen exit of Nagoya Station, yet it is calm and cool on the grounds. The path from the torii leads past a closed-off temizuya directly to a pavilion-like structure (below right) that seems to be the main prayer hall for Amaterasu.

There are several kami enshrined at this Tsubaki Jinja. The posted sign shown at left below says: Kami Toyouke-hime-no- O-kami. The larger sign gives the kami names for five shrines, from right to left:

Toyouke-hime no Kami

Ichikishima-hime no Mikoto

Takehaya-susanowo no Kami & Hi-no-kagotsuchi no Kami

Ukanomitama no Kami

Amaterasu O-mikami

Ichikishima-hime is another name for Seoritsuhime.

In the top photo we can see that the chigi are vertically cut, indicating a male kami. Although this could be Susanowo’s haiden, it may be that of Kami Toyouke-hime-no-O-kami. The gender of this kami has changed from the original male to female, as evidenced by the term hime in the name. Toyouke-hime is the gosaishin of Ise Jingu Geku, the Outer Shrine of Ise Jingu. There, also, although the enshrined kami’s name is female, the chigi are male-cut.

Ukanomitama no Kami is enshrined on these grounds, and this is another name, another aspect, of Toyouke-no-O-kami. Thus, Toyouke is doubly enshrined at this Tsubaki Jinja.

We were very pleased to serendipitously discover this shrine that names three of the greatest kami of the Hotsuma Document: Amakami Amateru, his consort Seoritsuhime, and his grandfather Toyoke-sama.

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