The Katori Shrine (香取神宮) is a Shintō shrine in the city of Katori in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the ichinomiya of former Shimōsa Province, and is the head shrine of the approximately 400 Katori shrines around the country (located primarily in the Kantō region). The main festival of the shrine is held annually on April 14, with a three-day Grand Festival held every 12 years.

Enshrined kami

The primary kami of Katori Jingū is

History

The foundation of Katori Jingū predates the historical period. Per the Hitachi-koku Fudoki, an ancient record and per shrine tradition, it was established in 643 BC, the 18th year of the reign of Emperor Jimmu. During this period, the Ō clan (多氏) migrated from Higo Province in Kyushu, conquering local emishi tribes, and forming an alliance with the nearby Nakatomi clan, the progenitors of the Fujiwara clan at what is now Kashima Jingū. As the Hitachi-koku Fudoki dates from the early 7th century, the shrine must certainly have been founded earlier than this. The shrine appears in all of the Rikkokushi official national histories, which cover events to 887. The shrine was regarded as a tutelary shrine of the Fujiwara clan, and a bunrei of Futsunushi was brought from Katori to be enshrined in the second sanctuary of Kasuga Taisha when that shrine was founded in Nara. In the Heian period per the Engishiki (written in 927), Katori was listed as a myōjin taisha (名神大) and was one of only three shrines (alongside Ise Jingū and Kashima Jingū) to be given the higher-level designation of Jingū. In the Heian period, the shrine came to be regarded as the ichinomiya of the province. During the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, Katori Jingū was revered as a shrine for the military class and received many donations from Minamoto no Yoritomo and Ashikaga Takauji. It also earned income from its control of fishing rights in the Katori Sea and highway barriers in both Hitachi Province and Shimōsa. Under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate, the shrine was rebuilt in 1607, and again in 1700. Many of the structures in the present shrine date from this 1700 rebuilding. During the Meiji period era of State Shinto, the shrine was rated as a Imperial shrine, 1st rank (官幣大社) under the Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines

Cultural Properties

National Treasures

Important Cultural Properties

Registered Tangible Cultural Properties

Gallery