Ahiratsu Shrine

Ahiratsu Shrine honors Princess Ahiratsu, the first wife of Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan. The shrine originally worshipped Otohime, a sea goddess, and twin stone statues of a monkey and a pheasant, her companions in folk tales, still stand guard along the approach. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the government encouraged the worship of sites tied to imperial origin legends, and the shrine was renamed for Princess Ahiratsu, making her the primary deity for the people of Aburatsu. This layering of older sea-goddess worship beneath a newer imperial dedication gives the shrine a more complex history than its quiet exterior suggests.