Isonokami Jingu

Isonokami Jingu stands in Furu-cho, Tenri, Nara Prefecture, on high ground at the northwestern foot of Mt. Furu (266 meters above sea level), at the western foot of Mt. Ryuo. The shrine describes itself as one of the oldest shrines in Japan, and it has long been worshipped as the clan shrine of the Mononobe. According to the shrine's tradition, it began when its deities were enshrined at Furu no Takaniwa in Isonokami in the 7th year of Emperor Sujin, the 10th emperor. In the past it had no main sanctuary, and the forbidden ground behind the worship hall was itself revered as the seat of the deity.

Two of its buildings are National Treasures. According to the shrine, the Worship Hall (Haiden) is said to be the Shinkaden hall of the imperial palace, donated by Emperor Shirakawa in 1081 (Eiho 1) for the shrine's Chinkon-sai ritual. Judging from its architectural style, however, it is thought to date from the early Kamakura period, and the national cultural properties database also lists it as an early Kamakura building. It is said to be the oldest surviving worship hall in Japan. It is seven bays wide and four bays deep, with a hip-and-gable roof of cypress bark and a one-bay porch at the front. Six ridge tags recording later repairs also survive.

Behind the worship hall lies the forbidden ground, about 1,300 square meters in area and enclosed by a stone fence with sword-tip-shaped posts carved with the name "Furu-sha." When the chief priest Kan Masatomo investigated it in 1874 (Meiji 7), the sacred sword Futsu no Mitama came to light, and a main sanctuary to enshrine it was completed by 1913 (Taisho 2). The two-story Romon gate in front of the worship hall is an Important Cultural Property; an ink inscription on its ridge beam shows that it was built in 1318 (Bunpo 2), and the plaque on its upper story was written by Yamagata Aritomo.

The other National Treasure, the Worship Hall of the subsidiary Izumotakeo Shrine, was originally the worship hall of the Sumiyoshi shrine that protected Uchiyama Eikyu-ji, a large temple founded in the Eikyu era (1113-18). After the temple was abolished in 1876 (Meiji 9) as a result of the separation of Shinto and Buddhism, the hall was moved here in 1914 (Taisho 3). The shrine says it was first built in 1137 (Hoen 3) and reached its present form through two rebuildings in the 13th and 14th centuries, while the national database lists it as a late Kamakura building from 1300. It is five bays wide under a gabled roof, and the center serves as a passage topped by a karahafu (curved gable).

About 30 chickens live in the grounds, and the Totenko long-crowing roosters and silkies wandering the approach and the grounds are the shrine's favorites. Kagami Pond is home to a fish designated a Natural Monument of Nara Prefecture, and the Jingu Gaien Park just outside the main approach is planted mostly with cherry trees, which are at their best from late March to early April. On the evening of November 22, the Chinkon-sai ritual is held following a method handed down in the Mononobe clan. The shrine is the midpoint of the Yamanobe-no-michi trail linking Nara with Miwa and Sakurai, and the southern section toward Miwa and Sakurai is the one most people walk.