Suga-jinja Shrine

Suga-jinja has observed a tradition of venerating the sacred island of Okinoshima every May since the late nineteenth century, when local people climbed nearby Mt. Araji to pray toward the island before rice planting. The custom is said to have started after a community prayer during an 1890 dysentery outbreak, after which people began recovering. Over time, the practice moved from the mountain to the shrine grounds. A stone altar beside two steps still faces Mt. Araji and the direction of Okinoshima. In response to that same outbreak, the village introduced a collective medical fund, with households contributing a share of their rice harvest to employ a community doctor.