Tsutsukowake Shrine — 都都古別神社

In the rolling Tanagura basin of southern Fukushima, two ancient shrines share the same name and the same kami — and have argued for centuries over which one is the real thing. Tsutsukowake Shrine (都都古別神社) exists in two forms: the Baba site in central Tanagura and the Yatsuki site to the east, both tracing their roots to a sacred peak called Tatehoko-yama and both listed as candidates for the Engishiki‘s highest-ranked Mutsu shrine.

The dispute is not mere local pride. The Baba shrine houses a Momoyama-period main hall now designated a National Important Cultural Property, moved stone by stone from the footprint of Tanagura Castle in 1625. The Yatsuki shrine carries its own founding legend tied to an arrow loosed by the hero Yamato Takeru. Together they form the upper two shrines of the Chikatsu Sansha — the Three Close Shrines — whose spiritual territory once spanned the southern Tohoku frontier.

The earliest written record appears in the Shoku Nihon Koki of 841, when the deity Tsutsukowake-no-kami was elevated to the junior fifth rank. The Engishiki of 927 lists “Tsutsukuwake Jinja — Myojin Taisha” in Mutsu Province’s Shirakawa District, confirming both shrines’ status as candidates for this highest liturgical classification. In 1103 the Choya Gunsai also records the god seated in Mutsu.

Founding tradition credits Emperor Keiko’s era (1st–2nd century, legendary) and specifically his son Yamato Takeru, who is said to have planted a halberd on Tatehoko-yama — a fifth-century ritual site of genuine archaeological importance — and enshrined Ajisukitakahikone as the land’s tutelary deity. A parallel theory places the actual founding around 811, when a new road linking Mutsu and Hitachi provinces was opened and these shrines may have been established as its guardian sanctuaries. Neither date is archaeologically confirmed.

By the medieval period both sites had become strongholds of mountain asceticism (shugen). The Baba shrine’s administrative family, the Takamatsu clan, controlled the northern half of Kono District for military and religious affairs; the Yatsuki shrine’s Eight Slot family (Yatsuki-ke) governed the southern half. In 1625 domain lord Niwa Nagashige demolished the original Baba shrine to build Tanagura Castle and relocated it to its present site.

After the Meiji Restoration, a protracted dispute over which shrine held the original Engishiki designation led both to be awarded the rank of Kokuhei Chusha (National Medium Shrine) by 1885. Both are currently listed as Beppyo Jinja (Honsha affiliated) under the Association of Shinto Shrines.

The principal deity at both Tsutsukowake shrines is Ajisukitakahikone-no-Mikoto (味耜高彦根命), a son of Okuninushi revered for agricultural fertility and associated in later tradition with thunder and the sword. His name contains the word for hoe or cutting implement (suki), underscoring his connection to cultivation and the working of the land. At both the Baba and Yatsuki sites he remains the founding deity present since the original enshrinement on Tatehoko-yama. Yamato Takeru-no-Mikoto (日本武尊) is co-enshrined at both locations, added at the Baba shrine in 807 according to shrine records and connected to the Yatsuki site through the arrow-flight legend. Yamato Takeru here represents the martial pacification of the northern frontier, his presence transforming an agricultural kami-seat into a symbol of imperial reach across Tohoku.

At the Baba shrine, legend says Yamato Takeru marched through Mutsu, climbed Tatehoko-yama (“Halberd-Standing Mountain”), planted his spear in the summit rock, and consecrated Ajisukitakahikone as the land deity of the Tanagura basin. The standing stone at the summit — called the Tatehoko-ishi (立鉾石) — is still venerated as a sacred rock seat (iwakura) from which the deity’s power radiates downward.

At the Yatsuki shrine, the story shifts: Yamato Takeru, after defeating the eastern barbarians at Mount Yamizo, fired an arrow eastward and declared the spot where it landed would become holy ground. The arrow struck “Ya-tsuki” — the place where arrows alight — giving the village its name. A variant from the Mutsu no Kuni Fudoki adds that eight arrows the hero shot pierced eight earth-spider chieftains and became paulownia trees at the spot, explaining “Yatsuki” as “eight trees.” Both stories encode the Yamato court’s narrative of conquering and sacramentalizing the Tohoku frontier through kami and hero acting together.

The Baba shrine’s main hall (honden) is a three-bay flowing-roof (sanken-sha nagare-zukuri) structure facing south, with a copper-sheet roof. Built under Satake Yoshinobu in 1594 and relocated in 1625, it is notable for its deliberately unadorned surfaces — no ornamental carvings — a restraint unusual in shrine architecture of the Momoyama period. The Ministry of Education designated it a National Important Cultural Property in December 2014 as one of the few surviving Momoyama-period main halls in Tohoku. Behind the main hall lies the Baba Kofun, a burial mound whose proximity to the shrine reinforces the site’s multi-layered sacred history. The precinct also holds subsidiary shrines to Sugawara Michizane, Inari, Izanami, Kashima, and several others, as well as an East Toshogu (Tokugawa Ieyasu shrine). The Yatsuki site retains its own ancient character and houses separate cultural properties under Fukushima Prefecture designation.

The main annual festival (reitaisai) at the Baba shrine falls on 11 September, a date shared with the monthly tsukishinesai held on the 11th of every month. The ritual calendar also includes the New Year’s festival on 1 January, Setsubun on 3 February, the Kinensai prayer-for-harvest ceremony on 17 February, a Tenjin lecture on 25 March, a Kagura liturgical music festival on 1 May, twin Great Purification (oharae) rites on 30 June and 31 December, and the Niinamesai harvest thanksgiving on 23 November. The autumn reitaisai, coinciding with the end of the rice harvest, is the ceremonial climax of the year and draws worshippers from across the Tanagura region seeking blessings tied to Ajisukitakahikone’s agricultural domain.

Autumn — particularly late September through early November — is the most rewarding season. The reitaisai on 11 September opens the harvest ceremonial period, and the forested grounds turn gold and red through October. Spring brings the Kinensai and Kagura festival energy in February–May. Winter visits around the twin December purification rites are austere but atmospheric; snowfall in this part of Fukushima can be heavy, so check road conditions. Weekday mornings outside festival dates allow unhurried access to the Momoyama main hall.