Okuni Shrine
Shinto shrine in Mori, Shūchi district, Shizoka prefecture, Japan
The Okuni Shrine (小國神社, Okuni jinja), is a Shinto shrine in the town of Mori, Shūchi District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is one of the two shrines claiming the title of ichinomiya of former Tōtōmi Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on April 18.
Enshrined kami
The kami enshrined at Okuni Jinja is:
Ōnamuchi-no-mikoto (大己貴命), kami of nation-building, agriculture, medicine, and protective magic
History
The date of Okuni Shrine's foundation is unknown. Shrine tradition gives a date of February 18, 555 (during the reign of Emperor Kinmei) as the date when a shrine was first constructed on the summit of six-kilometer distant 511-meter Mount Hongū, which now forms part of the shrine's grounds. The shrine only appears in historical records from an entry within the Shoku Nihon Kōki dated June 14, 884 and it is mentioned again in the Engishiki records, but is still listed as a "minor shrine". It has been styled the ichinomiya of Tōtōmi Province since at least 1235, and continued to be referred to as the “Ichinomiya” until the end of the Edo period. Due to the waning power of the Imperial Court, imperial messages ceased to be sent to the shrine from the Muromachi period. The shrine was destroyed when Takeda Shingen invaded Tōtōmi in 1572 and the shrine's priests sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was rebuilt by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1575, and subsequent generations of Tokugawa shōguns continued to support the shrine.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Okuni Shrine” as shinto shrine in Mori, Shūchi district, Shizoka prefecture, Japan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as shinto shrine in Mori, Shūchi district, Shizoka prefecture, Japan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q421597. Authority coordinates are 34.847, 137.899. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1235, 1572 and 1575.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Okuni Shrine”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Okuni Shrine primary sources, Okuni Shrine archive and Okuni research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Okuni Shrine”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Okuni Shrine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.