Omura Shrine (小村神社)

Omura Shrine holds a 1,400-year-old Japanese cedar called the Botansugi — the “Peony Cedar” — whose trunk divides near the ground into seven massive limbs that spread outward like the petals of a peony flower before reuniting skyward. The tree is 25 meters tall and its root system spans 30 meters in diameter, making it the largest sacred cedar in Kochi Prefecture. Local belief holds that the tree’s unusual form came about because it absorbed the divine spirit of the shrine’s kami at the moment of the deity’s enshrinement in the 6th century. The tree is not merely old — it is architecturally impossible, a living structure that defies the typical growth pattern of cryptomeria and has survived typhoons, earthquakes, and fourteen centuries of human activity at its roots.

Omura Shrine was founded in 541 CE during the reign of Emperor Kinmei, making it one of the oldest shrines in Shikoku. It was established as the ichinomiya (first-ranking shrine) of Tosa Province, a status it held throughout the medieval period. The shrine’s founding coincided with the early spread of wet-rice agriculture into the Kochi Plain, and its location near the confluence of the Monobe and Kokubu rivers made it the spiritual center for communities dependent on controlled irrigation. Historical records from the Heian period describe the shrine as receiving imperial offerings during times of drought. The current main hall, rebuilt in 1652 during the early Edo period, retains the austere architectural style favored by the Yamauchi clan, the daimyo who governed Tosa Domain. The shrine’s sacred grove, including the Botansugi, was designated a National Natural Monument in 1924.

Kunitokotachi no Mikoto is the primary deity enshrined at Omura Shrine. In Shinto cosmology, Kunitokotachi is the first kami to emerge from the primordial chaos at the beginning of creation — the deity who established the foundation of the land itself. Unlike many kami who govern specific natural phenomena or human affairs, Kunitokotachi represents the underlying principle of existence, the moment when formless potential became solid earth. The Nihon Shoki describes this kami as appearing alone, without gender, embodying pure creative force. At Omura Shrine, Kunitokotachi is venerated specifically as the protector of agricultural land and the stability of the earth beneath cultivated fields. The kami’s association with foundation and permanence is reflected in the shrine’s sacred tree, whose roots anchor the shrine grounds just as the deity is believed to anchor the physical world.

The Seven-Petaled Cedar

The Botansugi’s extraordinary form is attributed to a divine intervention that occurred during the shrine’s founding ceremony in 541 CE. According to the legend preserved in shrine records, a single cedar sapling was planted at the exact moment the kami’s shintai (sacred object) was installed in the newly built sanctuary. As the priests completed the enshrinement ritual, the young tree suddenly split at its base into seven distinct trunks, each bending outward before growing upward again. Witnesses interpreted this as a sign that Kunitokotachi had accepted the shrine as its earthly dwelling. The number seven was significant — it matched the seven generations of celestial kami described in the creation myths, with Kunitokotachi being the first. Over the centuries, the seven trunks have grown so thick that the separation is visible only at the tree’s base; above three meters, they merge into a unified canopy. Pilgrims historically circled the tree seven times while praying for the stability of their household foundations, and newlyweds planted cedar seedlings nearby to ensure their marriage would have strong roots. The tree has survived at least four major typhoons that destroyed surrounding structures, which devotees interpret as evidence of its divine protection.

The main hall (honden) is built in the nagare-zukuri style with a distinctive extended roof that sweeps forward to shelter worshippers during Kochi’s heavy rains. The structure sits on a raised stone platform that elevates it above the flood plain, a practical necessity in a region where the rivers historically overflow during the summer monsoon. The shrine’s approach is lined with stone lanterns donated by merchant guilds from the Edo period, each inscribed with prayers for safe river transport of goods. The Botansugi stands within a protective fence in the western section of the shrine grounds, surrounded by smaller cedars that are themselves several centuries old. A small subsidiary shrine dedicated to the tree spirit sits at its base. The shrine also maintains a collection of medieval wooden votive tablets (ema) depicting agricultural scenes, preserved in a climate-controlled storehouse that is opened to researchers by appointment.

• Reitaisai (Grand Festival) — October 11-12 — The main annual festival features a procession carrying the kami’s portable shrine through surrounding rice fields that have just completed harvest. Participants wear Heian-period court dress and perform kagura dances that depict the creation of the earth from primordial waters.
• Kigansai (Prayer for Foundation) — January 15 — A ceremony conducted for those planning to build new homes or businesses, where participants receive blessed earth from the shrine grounds to place beneath their foundation stones.
• Botansugi Thanksgiving — April 29 — A spring ritual honoring the sacred cedar, during which sake and rice are offered at the tree’s base and new protective rope is wrapped around its trunk.

Late October during the Reitaisai festival offers the most complete experience of the shrine’s agricultural heritage, when the newly harvested rice is ceremonially offered and the autumn light filters through the Botansugi’s canopy at an angle that makes the seven-trunked structure clearly visible. Early morning visits in any season provide the best opportunity to see the tree without crowds — the way sunlight catches the massive limbs emerging from the ground creates the illusion that the tree is actively blooming. Spring brings the shrine’s surrounding camellia trees into flower, creating a red understory beneath the cedar canopy.