Hinomisaki Shrine: Mythological and Historical Landscape
In its setting bathed by striking, panoramic sunsets, Hinomisaki Shrine has offered rites to the sun goddess Amaterasu since prehistoric times. Originally, the shrine stood just to the north, on Fumishima Island, but in 948 Emperor Murakami (926–967) moved it to its current location.
Susanoo, god of storms and the sea, has even stronger associations with the land of Izumo. In Shinto mythology, Susanoo settled in Izumo after his expulsion from the heavenly realm. After many years, he proclaimed his descendants should prepare a shrine for him, and he tossed an oak leaf into the wind to determine its location. The leaf landed at Kakuregaoka, just south of Izumo Hinomisaki Lighthouse. Emperor Annei (567–511 BCE), third in Japan’s imperial lineage, later transferred that shrine to its present location to the west, and a triple oak leaf became the shrine’s crest.