Katsurakisitoriniimasu Amenohaikazuchi no Mikoto-jinja Shrine (葛木倭文座天羽雷命神社)
Katsurakisitoriniimasu Amenohaikazuchinomikoto-jinja shrine is located at the base of Mt. Nijo (Nara Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture) in Katsuragi City (former Taima-Cho), Nara Prefecture. It was a shikinaisha (a shrine listed in the Engishiki laws) and was categorized as a sonsha (a village shrine) under the old shrine ranking system. The shrine is sometimes simply called Shizuri-jinja Shrine.
Enshrined Deities
Amahaikazuchi no mikoto is the shusaijin (main enshrined deity) of the shrine, where Kamori-jinja shrine (enshrining Amenooshihito no mikoto) and Futakami-jinja shrine (enshrining Kunitama [the spirit of the land]) are enshrined in a sessha (auxiliary shrines dedicated to deities closely-related to that of a main shrine) in the right and left halls respectively.
The shrine is considered to be the root of Shizuri-jinja Shrines located throughout Japan because Amahaikazuchi no mikoto is a soshin (ancestor honored as god) of the Shizuri clan who introduced the arts of weaving and sewing to various regions.
Amenooshihito no mikoto is said to be the deity who cleaned up the meconium (蟹; kani) when Ugayafukiaezu was born, and its descendants were called the Kamori (蟹守) clan (Kamori can be written using other characters including 掃部, 加守 and 狩森). The Kamori clan is the shake (family of Shinto priests serving a shrine on a hereditary basis) of the shrine. The shrine had been known as 'Kamori (加守)-myoujin shrine' until the Edo period because the name of the place around the shrine, 'Kamori' (加守),' derived from the word Kamori (蟹守).
Okunitama no mikoto is the enshrined deity of Katsuragi Futakami-jinja Shrine located on the top of the Mt. Nijo. It seems that the Katsurakisitoriniimasu Amenohaikazuchi no Mikoto-jinja shrine was a worship space or something like a sato-miya shrine (shrine built in a village area as a worship space for another shrine in a mountain) belonging to the Futakami-jinja shrine on the top of the mountain.
History
It is unknown in which era the shrine was established. The first literature record of the shrine can be found in "Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku" (sixth of the six classical Japanese history texts) which states that the Jugoi (Junior Fifth Rank) shinkai (rank granted to Shinto gods) was bestowed upon the shrine on January 27, 859. The Engishiki Jinmyocho (a register of shrines in Japan) mentions 'Katsurakisitoriniimasu Amenohaikazuchinomikoto-jinja Shrine in Katsuraginoshimo County, Yamato Province' and lists the shrine as a taisha (grand shrine) (however, Hakanishi-jinja Shrine is considered to be a ronja [shrines considered to be descendants of a shikinaisha] belonging to Amenohaikazuchinomikoto-jinja Shrine).
In 1873, the shrine was listed as a sonsha, before being designated a Shinsenheihakuryokyoshin-sha (Sonsha or Gosha [village shrine] which could receive a sinsenheihakuryo fee [fee for offerings to a god] from a prefecture by an imperial edict) in 1907.