Kanamine Shrine
- Modification： 2024/01/11
- Area: kuchinoerabu
It is unknown when this shrine was constructed. However, records exist indicating that in 1888 (Meiji 21), the regional Shintō Association based at Kirishima Shrine undertook a systematisation project to organise all shrines within Kagoshima Prefecture. The shrines on Kuchinoerabu Island signed onto this agreement, with contracts from the time preserved to the present day. It was at this time that this shrine’s name changed from Kingoku Shrine to Kanamine Shrine.
The sacred object housed in this shrine is a natural stone from the island’s coast, but snakes are also considered to be sacred manifestations of this shrine.
The deities enshrined here are the pair Kanayamahiko no mikoto and Kanayamahime no mikoto. Each year on the 3rd day of the 4th month and the 15th day of the 6th day of the Japanese lunisolar calendar, a festival is held at the shrine to commemorate the two eruptions of Mt. Shindake that occurred in 1841 (Tenpō 12). On anniversary of the first eruption, the festival once consisted of community-wide sumō wrestling and dancing—but these customs were unfortunately lost around the middle of the Shōwa era (around the 1950s). These days, the festival commemorating the anniversary of the second eruption prominently features the traditional bō odori (“stick dance”) and hinomoto odori (“dance of the sun”).
