Kirishima Shrine

Kirishima Shrine stands on the wooded slopes below Takachiho, a peak in the Kirishima range. Its main buildings date from 1715 and were made a National Treasure in 2022.

The shrine is dedicated to Ninigi no Mikoto, who in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki comes down from heaven onto Takachiho carrying the three sacred treasures and ears of rice. Six more of his family are enshrined with him: his consort, his son, his son's consort, his grandson Ugayafukiaezu, that grandson's consort, and his great-grandson Kamuyamato Iwarehiko, known as Jimmu, the first emperor.

The peak itself rises behind the shrine. An iron spear stands upside down at the summit.

The shrine first stood high on the mountain, between the peak and the crater, and burned when the mountain erupted. A monk named Shoku moved it to Takachihogawara and rebuilt it there around 950. A large eruption in 1234 destroyed the buildings again, and the monk Kenkei rebuilt them in 1484 at the order of the lord of the domain.

Fire from the temple attached to the shrine later burned it down once more. The buildings standing today were put up in 1715 at the expense of Shimazu Yoshitaka, the twenty-first head of the Shimazu house, who like his forebears supported the shrine. They were made an Important Cultural Property in 1989, and the main hall, the offering hall and the worship hall were raised to National Treasure in 2022.

The approach begins at a vermilion bridge and climbs about eighty steep stone steps, then passes through two more torii. A terrace on the west side of the path looks out over Kagoshima Bay and Sakurajima.