The Katori Shrine ( 香取神宮 , Katori Jingū ) is a Shintō shrine in the city of Katori in Chiba Prefecture , Japan . It is the ichinomiya of former Shimōsa Province , and is the head shrine of the approximately 400 Katori shrines around the country (located primarily in the Kantō region ). The main festival of the shrine is held annually on April 14, with a three-day Grand Festival held every 12 years.
28-521: Futsunushi ( 経津主神 , Futsunushi-no-Kami , also 布都怒志命 or 布都努志命 , Futsunushi-no-Mikoto ) , also known as Iwainushi ( 斎主神 or 伊波比主神 , Iwainushi-no-Kami ) , is a warrior god in Japanese mythology . Also known under the epithet Katori Daimyōjin ( 香取大明神 ) after his shrine in northern Chiba Prefecture (historical Shimōsa Province ), Katori Jingū , he is often revered alongside Takemikazuchi (the god of Kashima Shrine ), with whom he
56-539: Is The foundation of Katori Jingū predates the historical period. Per the Hitachi-koku Fudoki , an ancient record and per shrine tradition, it was established in 643 BC, the 18th year of the reign of Emperor Jimmu . During this period, the Ō clan ( 多氏 , Ō-shi ) migrated from Higo Province in Kyushu , conquering local emishi tribes, and forming an alliance with the nearby Nakatomi clan,
84-637: Is closely associated. He is the general of Amaterasu and regarded as a legendary ancestor of the Mononobe clan , and like Takemikazuchi is one of the tutelary deities of the Fujiwara clan . One theory interprets the futsu ( Old Japanese : putu ) in Futsunushi's name as an onomatopoeic sound of a sword swinging and cutting something. A connection with the term furu ('to shake') has also been proposed. Nushi (OJ: nusi ), meaning 'master' or 'ruler',
112-478: Is derived from a contraction of the possessive particle no and ushi (OJ: usi ), of the same meaning. The name Iwainushi ( historical orthography : いはひぬし, Ihahinushi ; OJ: Ipapinusi ) meanwhile is a contraction of iwai no ushi (斎之大人), 'master of worship'. A variant account of Izanagi and Izanami 's begetting of various gods ( kamiumi ) cited in the Nihon Shoki states that when Izanagi killed
140-506: The Izumo Fudoki feature Futsunushi. Township of Tatenuhi. It is 10.7 miles northeast of the district office. At this place Futsunushi stitched up a rip in his sturdy shield of heaven. Thus it was named Tatenuhi, meaning "shield fastening." Township of Yamakuni. It is 10.9 miles southeast of the district office. Futsunushi came to this place during a campaign. He said, "This is the land I wish to behold forever." Because of this
168-569: The ichinomiya of the province. During the Kamakura and Muromachi periods , Katori Jingū was revered as a shrine for the military class and received many donations from Minamoto no Yoritomo and Ashikaga Takauji . It also earned income from its control of fishing rights in the Katori Sea and highway barriers in both Hitachi Province and Shimōsa. Under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate ,
196-653: The "one true god" belief of monotheism has been noted by many scholars, including Jonathan Kirsch in his book God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism and Joseph Campbell in The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology .) The following is a list of war deities: Nubian Yoruba Igbo Kalenjin Akan Etruscan Katori Shrine The primary kami of Katori Jingū
224-529: The Central Plain of Reeds [Japan], it pacified various rebels. Once this Great kami had accomplished its work of civilization, it conceived in its heart the desire to return to its celestial abode. It therefore left its weapons and gear on earth, and, mounting a white cloud, returned to Heaven. The kuni-yuzuri myth featured in the Izumo no Kuni no Miyatsuko no Kanʼyogoto (出雲国造神賀詞 "Congratulatory Words of
252-564: The Chieftain of Izumo"), a ritual declaration ( norito ) delivered by the province's governor or kuni no miyatsuko at the imperial court upon his appointment, has Futsunushi being dispatched with the deity Ame-no-Hinadori-no-Mikoto (天夷鳥命), the son of Ame-no-Oshihomimi, son of the sun goddess Amaterasu and the Izumo magnate clan's divine ancestor. Futsunushi is absent in the Kojiki , where
280-551: The Katori deity as a manifestation of the eleven-faced form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara ( Kannon ). List of war deities A war god in mythology associated with war, combat , or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their mythologies as commanding war in order to spread religion. (The intimate connection between " holy war " and
308-846: The Nakatomi and Fujiwara clans), and Himegami , in Shiogama Shrine in Miyagi Prefecture alongside Takemikazuchi and Shiotsuchi-no-Oji (the kami of salt making), in Nukisaki Shrine (貫前神社 Nukisaki Jinja ) in Tomioka , Gunma Prefecture alongside a goddess known only under the generic epithet 'Hime Ōkami' (比売大神), and as an auxiliary deity in Chiba Shrine in Chiba City . A number of other shrines throughout
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#1732787522222336-487: The Sobataka deity, acting under the orders of the god of Katori, raided the land of Mutsu and stole 2,000 horses from the local kami . When the god of Mutsu gave chase, the Sobataka deity drained Lake Kasumigaura using a ' tide-ebbing jewel ' (干珠 kanju ), allowing the horses to cross over to the other shore. After the horses have safely crossed, the Sobataka deity then used a 'tide-flowing jewel' (満珠 manju ), to restore
364-405: The counsel of his son, Kotoshironushi , Ōnamuchi agrees to cede the land and withdraws into invisibility. After this, Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi proceeded to slay all those who refused to submit to them. A variant account adds that the two finally dispatched the god of weaving, Takehazuchi-no-Mikoto (建葉槌命), to subdue the last remaining rebel, the star god Kagaseo (香香背男). With all resistance gone,
392-899: The country also enshrine Futsunushi in an auxiliary capacity. Both Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi were reckoned as eminent war gods (軍神 ikusagami , gunjin ) since antiquity. The Ryōjin Hishō compiled in 1179 (the late Heian period ) attest to the worship of the gods of Katori and Kashima as martial deities at the time of its compilation: These gods of war live east of the barrier : Kashima , Katori, Suwa no Miya , and Hira Myōjin ; also Su in Awa , Otaka Myōjin in Tai no Kuchi , Yatsurugi in Atsuta , and Tado no Miya in Ise . The two kami have been worshiped by many eminent swordsmen such as Iizasa Chōisai ,
420-631: The demand of the two envoys. After Futsunushi goes back to Takamagahara to report, Takamimusubi sends him back to Ōnamuchi, this time with promises of rewards should he comply. Ōnamuchi finally accepts their terms and appoints the god of roads and borders, the funato no kami (岐神) as his replacement. He then finally disappears into the unseen world. Futsunushi, with the funato no kami as his guide, then makes his way around Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, killing those who resisted him and rewarding those who submitted. Two legends from Ou District (意宇郡) of Izumo Province (modern Yasugi , Shimane Prefecture ) recorded in
448-423: The envoys sent by the heavenly kami are Takemikazuchi and the bird-boat deity Ame-no-Torifune . The Kojiki 's kamiumi myth identifies Takemikazuchi - here given the aliases 'Takefutsu-no-Kami' (建布都神) and 'Toyofutsu-no-Kami' (豊布都神) - as one of three gods born from the blood that fell from the blade of Izanagi's sword (the other two being Mikahayahi and Hihayahi), although the kuni-yuzuri portion refers to him as
476-573: The founder of Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū , and Tsukahara Bokuden , the founder of Kashima Shintō-ryū . Indeed, Chōisai was reputed in legend to have developed his swordsmanship style after being taught secrets of strategy by Futsunushi in a dream. Even today, many kendo dōjō in Japan enshrine either or both of these deities. A collection of medieval legends, the Shintōshū , identifies
504-439: The god Takemikazuchi - here identified as the son of Hihayahi - indignantly protests that he is also a stalwart warrior ( masurao ) like Futsunushi; the gods then agreed to assign him as Futsunushi's companion. The two then make their way to the shores of Itasa (五十田狹之小汀, Itasa no ohama ) in the land of Izumo , demanding that the earthly deity Ōnamuchi ( Ōkuninushi ), the ruler of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, relinquish his authority. At
532-574: The lake to normal, trapping the pursuer in an island in the middle of the lake known as Ukishima (浮島 'floating island', part of modern Inashiki , Ibaraki Prefecture ). The deity Ame-no-Naemasu-no-Mikoto (天苗加命), worshiped in Matami Shrine (又見神社) in Katori, is considered to be Futsunushi's son. Ame-no-Naemasu is reckoned as the ancestor of the Katori clan (香取氏), which traditionally served as priests in Katori Shrine. The Katori later assumed
560-493: The land of Japan), in order to demand that its inhabitants submit to their rule. The main narrative of the second volume of the Nihon Shoki relates that after the failure of the earlier messengers, Ame-no-Hohi and Ame-no-Wakahiko, to perform their mission, the gods of heaven headed by the primordial deity Takamimusubi decide to send Futsunushi, the son of Iwatsutsuno'o and Iwatsutsunome, as their new emissary. Hearing this,
588-614: The male Iwatsutsunoo-no-Kami (磐筒男神) and the female Iwatsutsunome-no-Kami (磐筒女神), begat Futsunushi. This is the version followed in the main narrative of the work's second volume. Likewise the Kogo Shūi identifies Futsunushi as the son of Iwatsutsunome. Both Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi are closely associated with the 'transfer of the land' ( kuni-yuzuri ) myth cycle, which relates how the deities of Takamagahara (the 'Plain of High Heaven') sent various messengers down to earth, to Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni (the 'Central Land of Reed-Plains,' i.e.
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#1732787522222616-491: The name 'Ōnakatomi' (大中臣) after a grandson of Ōnakatomi no Kiyomaro , of the influential Nakatomi (Ōnakatomi) clan , was adopted into the clan. As the deity of Katori Jingū, Futsunushi also serves as the deity of shrines belonging to the Katori shrine network (香取神社 Katori Jinja ). In addition, Futsunushi is also enshrined in Kasuga Grand Shrine alongside Takemikazuchi, Ame-no-Koyane (the divine ancestor of
644-595: The newborn fire god Kagutsuchi (whose birth caused the death of his wife Izanami), the drops of blood from his sword congealed to form the rocks by the heavenly river (天の安河, ame no yasukawa ) from which Futsunushi was born. The blood which dripped from the sword's hilt ring then turned into two gods named Mikahayahi-no-Kami (甕速日神) and Hihayahi-no-Kami (樋速日神); Mikahayahi is here identified as Takemikazuchi's parent. Another variant meanwhile states that Kagutsuchi's blood spurted out and transformed into two gods named Iwasaku-no-Kami (磐裂神) and Nesaku-no-Kami (根裂神). Their children,
672-483: The place is called Yamakuni, meaning "land to behold forever." The Fudoki of Hitachi Province (modern Ibaraki Prefecture) also refers to a deity named 'Futsu-no-Ōkami' (普都大神) who is often identified with Futsunushi. District of Shida. . . . An elder reports that at the beginning of Heaven and Earth, when the vegetal world was speaking words, a kami came from Heaven. Its name is the Great kami Futsu. In its rounds of
700-582: The progenitors of the Fujiwara clan at what is now Kashima Jingū . As the Hitachi-koku Fudoki dates from the early 7th century, the shrine must certainly have been founded earlier than this. The shrine appears in all of the Rikkokushi official national histories, which cover events to 887. The shrine was regarded as a tutelary shrine of the Fujiwara clan, and a bunrei of Futsunushi
728-434: The son of the deified sword itself, there given the name Itsu-no-Ohabari (伊都尾羽張). Sobataka Shrine (側高神社) in Ōkura, Katori is reckoned as the first and most important auxiliary shrine of Katori Jingū. Its deity, whose identity is kept secret since antiquity and thus is known merely as the 'Great Deity of Sobataka' (側高大神 Sobataka-no-Ōkami ), is the subject of a legend involving the god of Katori Shrine. The story relates that
756-521: The two gods went back to heaven to report the success of their mission. A variant account has Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi putting to death the evil deity Amatsumikaboshi (Kagaseo) in heaven first before they descend to Izumo. The account adds that it was at this time that Iwainushi-no-Kami (possibly another name for Futsunushi), the deity enshrined in Katori , received the epithet iwai no ushi , 'master of worship.' In this version, Ōnamuchi initially refuses
784-626: Was brought from Katori to be enshrined in the second sanctuary of Kasuga Taisha when that shrine was founded in Nara . In the Heian period per the Engishiki (written in 927), Katori was listed as a myōjin taisha ( 名神大 ) and was one of only three shrines (alongside Ise Jingū and Kashima Jingū) to be given the higher-level designation of Jingū . In the Heian period, the shrine came to be regarded as
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