Atsuta Jingû is one of the holiest shrines in Japan and considered as such because it is a shrine to the sun goddess Amaterasu-Omikoto, the matriarch of the Imperial Family. Technically, enshrined is Atsuta-no-Omikoto, which is Amaterasu’s spirit in the form of one of the three Imperial Regalia: The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Grass-Cutting Sword), or Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds), is one of the most important cultural items in Japan, confering unto the emperor the power to rule. I mentioned in a previous post that Naiku in Ise is the holiest shrine in Japan and holds in its poscession, though unconfirmed, the bronze mirror which holds the image of Amaterasu-Omikoto. Atsuta Jingû can be thought of as simply another shrine to house an equally important item.

For the casual: 6. For the educated: 10.

Like Naikû and Gekû, visual access to the shrine is largely restricted with tall walls hiding most of what is visible. Visitors do have access to a path which follows the wall to the back side of the shrine which gives an idea of just how large the inner sanctum is, but again, the most people are likely to see are the gold leaf caps on the finials jutting from the shrine roof. Having said that, Atsuta Jingû is a beautiful shrine in the heart of Nagoya and retains a great deal of forest surrounding it. The grounds are like many major shrines in Japan with large gravel paths and beautiful trees. If the weather is good, there is a wonderful play of light between the green of the vegetation, the gold of sunlight on the wood buildings, and the white gray of the gravel. It’s a really nice combination which I find very relaxing. Depending on the time of the year, various events take place at the shrine from unique matsuri to larger-scale holiday events. During Golden Week in May, the shrine is filled with people praying for luck for their children. Strangely enough, when I was there, there were chickens roaming around the shrine.

A little chat about the sword. Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is not the kind of sword that one would think of when thinking about a “Japanese” sword. Because only the emperor and those of the highest ranks in the caretaking of the artifcats are able to see the items itself, there is no conclusive image or description of what the sword really looks like. However, based on traditional imagery and other ceremonial swords from ancient Japan, the educated guess is that it’s a bronze sword with a straight blade which actually resembles a gladius of sorts, though there is no actual correlation between the two. Where the story gets really juicy is the fact that it’s likely the sword no longer exists. During the Genpei War, a civil war in the late 12th century between the Taira and Minamoto samurai clans, the young Emperor Antoku, only about the age of 9, fled Kyoto with the Taira clan to Kyushu. Because Antoku’s grandfather was actually Taira no Kiyomori, the leader of the Taira clan, it was feared that the Minamoto clan would come after the young emperor and surplant him with an emperor favorable to their cause. To deny this new emperor the authority of succession, they took with them peices of the Imperial Regalia, in this case, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. According to Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike), an account of the Genpei War, Emperor Antoku and his mother were aboard a Taira ship escaping to Kyushu when the forces of the Taira and Minamoto engaged in a naval combat. Rather than be captured, Antoku’s mother cast herself and her son into the sea and drowned, and with them, the sword. The emperor who actually succeeded Antoku was Emperor Go-Toba, an emperor with a passion for swordcrafting. When he crafted swords, he crafted his own imprint as a signature in the shape of a chrysanthemum, the emblem that would become the crest for the Imperial Family. Because of this, I have a theory that the current Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi was crafted, or at least overseen, by Go-Toba to replace the real one.