AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Minamishinozaki Tenso Shrine (南篠崎天祖神社) is a quiet neighborhood Shinto shrine in Edogawa City, eastern Tokyo, devoted to Amaterasu-ōmikami, the sun goddess and principal deity of Ise Grand Shrine. Founded as a mikuriya (an Ise-protected sacred estate) of old Kamakuda village, it carries the simple Shinmei-zukuri shrine architecture associated with Amaterasu worship, and today serves residents of Minamishinozakimachi a short walk from Mizue Station.↗↗↗
The shrine's most unusual treasure is the Kamakuda Fuji-zuka — a small, artificial miniature Mount Fuji raised by a Fuji-ko pilgrimage society in 1886 — registered as a Tangible Folk Cultural Property of Edogawa City. For visitors who want a glimpse of the folk religion that once flourished in Tokyo's lowland farming villages, this is a particularly rewarding stop.↗↗
A Village Shrine of the Old Kasai Lowlands
The exact founding of Minamishinozaki Tenso Shrine is unrecorded, but its origins are tied to Ise Grand Shrine: it is said to have been enshrined as the mikuriya (sacred estate) of Kamakuda village in the Higashi-Kasai territory of Ise's eastern estates. By the late Edo period it was firmly embedded in village life. The shrine's own notice board on the grounds recounts that in September 1817 (Bunka 14), the hall was rebuilt and re-enthroned as Chinjū Shinmei Daimingū, the relocation ceremony performed by Chiken, head priest of the neighboring Buddhist temple Seikō-ji, who then served as the shrine's supervising monk.
