Tsushima Shrine

Tsushima Shrine

Tsushima Shrine (津島神社) in Shinmeicho, Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture, has a main hall of 1605 and a two-storey gate of 1592, each designated an Important Cultural Property (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Aichi Prefecture tourism site, the shrine is said to have been founded in 540; revered as a Tenno shrine alongside Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, it is the head of more than 3,000 Tsushima shrines across Japan. The Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival, one of Japan's three great river festivals, is held on the fourth Saturday of July and the following day.

The Two Buildings

The main hall, said to be the gift of Matsudaira Tadayoshi, lord of Kiyosu, is a three-bay nagare-zukuri hall with a cypress-bark roof, designated with six ridge tags. The gate, said to be the gift of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, is a well-proportioned two-storey gate three bays wide under a cypress-bark roof (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Aichi Prefecture). Each is described on its own page.

Visiting

According to the Aichi Prefecture tourism site, prayers are received from 9:00 to 16:00; the shrine is 17 minutes on foot from Meitetsu Tsushima Station or 15 minutes by car from Yatomi IC on the Higashi-Meihan Expressway, with parking for 60 cars to the south and 40 to the east; tel. 0567-26-3216.