Komamiya Shrine

Horse breeding in what is now Miyazaki Prefecture was already notable in the Nara period, with animals sent from this remote southern coast to the imperial court. Komamiya Shrine, whose name means 'horse shrine,' reflects that history through a series of horse statues on its grounds. The site is thought to have served as a sacred place since prehistoric times, when the cliffs behind the current building may have been worshipped as a divine dwelling. During the Edo period, the Ito daimyo family donated a horse to the shrine annually. The shrine enshrines Jimmu, the mythical first emperor, said to have spent his youth here, a connection emphasized by the Meiji government as it institutionalized Shinto.