The is a Shinto shrine in the city of Tateyama

Tateyama, Chiba

is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of September 2010, the city had an estimated population of 49,315 and the population density of 447 persons per km². The total area was 110.21 km²...

 in Chiba Prefecture

Chiba Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It is one of two shrines claiming to hold the title of ichinomiya of former Awa Province

Awa Province (Chiba)

was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. It lies on the tip of the Boso Peninsula , whose name takes its first kanji from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was or...

. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on August 10.

Enshrined kami

The primary kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

of Awa Jinja is the .

Secondary enshrined kami include:
There are also numerous small subsidiary shrines to various kami within the shrine grounds.

History

The date of Awa Shrine’s foundation is unknown. Shrine tradition and the Kogo Shūi

Kogo Shui

is a historical record of the Inbe clan. It was composed by Inbe no Hironari in 807.-Background:Historically, both the Inbe and Nakatomi clans had long performed religious services for the court. However, at the beginning of the Heian period, the Fujiwara clan, whom the Nakatomi clan are a branch...

records of 807 AD gives the founder as a member of the Inbe clan, (the precursors to the Nakatomi clan

Nakatomi clan

The Nakatomi clan was an influential clan in Classical Japan. Along with the Inbe clan, the Nakatomi were one of two priestly clans which oversaw certain important national rites, and one of many to claim descent from divine clan ancestors "only a degree less sublime than the imperial ancestors"...

) during the reign of the legendary Emperor Jimmu

Emperor Jimmu

was the first Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He is also known as Kamuyamato Iwarebiko and personally as Wakamikenu no Mikoto or Sano no Mikoto....

. The shrine is mentioned several times in the early Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

 Rikkokushi

Rikkokushi

is a general term for Japan's six national histories chronicling the mythology and history of Japan from the earliest times to AD 887. The six histories were written at the imperial court during the eighth and ninth centuries, under order of the Emperors...

and it is mentioned again in the Engishiki

Engishiki

-History:In 905 Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of a new set of laws. Fujiwara no Tokihira began the task, but work stalled when he died four years later in 909. His brother Fujiwara no Tadahira continued the work in 912 eventually completing it in 927...

records.

It has been styled as the ichinomiya of Awa Province since at least the end of the Heian period, and enjoyed the patronage of the Satomi clan

Satomi clan

The Satomi clan was a clan of samurai which claimed descent from Nitta Yoshishige , whose son Yoshitoshi took 'Satomi' as his surname. The Satomi moved from Kōzuke province to Awa province in the mid-15th century, and remained there into the Edo Period. During the Sengoku period, the Satomi were...

, and subsequently the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 until the end of the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

.

After the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, it was granted the rank of Kanpei Taisha

Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines

The The The (sometimes called simply , was an organizational aspect of the establishment of Japanese State Shinto. This system classified Shinto shrines as either official government shrines or "other" shrines...

 (1st ranked Imperial Shrine)] under State Shinto

State Shinto

has been called the state religion of the Empire of Japan, although it did not exist as a single institution and no "Shintō" was ever declared a state religion...

 in 1875. The present Honden

Honden

The , is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined kami, usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a statue. The building is normally in the rear of the shrine and closed to the general public. In front of its usually stands the haiden, or...

dates from 1881.

During archaeological investigations in 1931, numerous Jomon

Jomon period

The is the time in Japanese prehistory from about 14,000 BC to 300 BC.The term jōmon means "cord-patterned" in Japanese. This refers to the pottery style characteristic of the Jōmon culture, and which has markings made using sticks with cords wrapped around them...

 and Kofun period

Kofun period

The is an era in the history of Japan from around 250 to 538. It follows the Yayoi period. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from this era. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period...

artifacts were recovered, including a number of bronze mirrors, clay vessels and the skeletons of 22 people.