Tamaki-jinja Shrine (玉置神社)
Tamaki-jinja Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Yoshino County, Nara Prefecture. It is located on top of Mt. Tamaki, one of the sacred mountains of the Omine Range, and it is part of "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range," which was registered as a world heritage site by UNESCO along with Mt. Koya in July, 2004. It is the tenth Gyosho (training place for ascetics) of Omine Okugake-michi (paths).
Enshrined deities
It is one of a few shrines that enshrine Kuninokototachi no mikoto.
Kuninotokotachi no mikoto
Izanagi
Izanami
Amaterasu Omikami (the God of the sun)
Emperor Jinmu
Important cultural properties
Temple bell
84.2 cm in height, 46.8 cm in diameter
It has an inscription of the date April 15, 1163 and an inscription in Sanskrit characters. It is said to have been dedicated by Takatsuna SASAKI. It is stored at Totsugawa Village history and race resource center.
The shrine office and kitchen (one building)
It used to be a betto-ji temple called Takamuro-in, which was converted into the present office and kitchen. It was built in 1804 in a shoin style.
Others
The main building
Irimoya-zukuri (a hip-and-gable roof) construction with zelkova
Setsumatsu sha (smaller shrines managed under the shrine)
Mihashira-jinja Shrine (enshrined deities: Ukano-mitama, Shinatsuhiko, Kuninomihashira no kami)
Tamaishi-sha Shrine (enshrined deity: Okuninushi)
Hakusan-sha Shrine (enshrined deity: Kukurihime no mikoto)
Wakamiya-sha Shrine (enshrined deity: Oyamatsumi)
Kaguraden (hall for Shinto music and dance)
Emaden (hall for votive horse tablets)
Gigantic trees of cedar (a natural monument designated by the prefecture)
Many of them are named: Jindai-sugi (3000 years old), Tokotachi-sugi, Yuware-sugi, etc.
8-10 m in circumference, 30-50 m in height
Stone pagoda Hokyointo
It is a Muromachi period style but said to have been donated by Cloistered Emperor Goshirakawa
Jizo (stone image of Jizo)
History
The shrine tradition says that it was founded by Emperor Suijin in 37 B.C. It had been the village shrine god of the Totsugawa area since ancient times. There are not many written records about the shrine, but the imperial words documents of 1800 to Tamakiyama betto, Takamuro-in Shrine, says 'Tamaki-yama is the sacred place called Oku-no-in of Kumano Sanzan (Kumano three shrines) and has a special history' and it is said that there was a place to pray called Yohaisho in Kumano-hongu Shrine (Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture), where people can pray to Tamaki-jinja Shrine from the distance. Before the Meiji period, it was under command of Shogo-in Shrine in Kyoto, also called Tamaki-Sansho-Gongen, and it prospered as a place for Shugendo doctrine with ７ monk's residences called bo and 15 temples in the mountain.