Qualla: Izumo-taisha

Izumo-taisha: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ScribblingGeek, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every October, the rest of Japan calls the month Kannazuki, "the month without gods." In Izumo, they call it Kamiarizuki, "the month with gods." The difference is not poetic. According to Shinto belief, all eight million kami leave their home shrines across the archipelago and travel to Izumo-taisha, the Grand Shrine of Izumo, to convene on matters of marriage, birth, and death for the coming year. For that one month, the gods are here and nowhere else. The shrine that hosts them is widely regarded as the oldest in Japan, predating even the Ise Shrine, and no record exists of when it was first built.

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Image: ScribblingGeek | CC BY-SA 4.0

Izumo-taisha: A Gift from the Sun Goddess

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 663highland, CC BY 2.5. The shrine's origin is inseparable from Japan's creation mythology. According to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, the oldest chronicles in Japan, the god Okuninushi built the Japanese islands and then ceded his creation to Ninigi-no-Mikoto, grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Pleas...

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Image: 663highland | CC BY 2.5

Izumo-taisha: The Tallest Building in Ancient Japan

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mti, CC BY-SA 3.0. A record from around 950 CE describes the main hall of Izumo-taisha as the tallest building in Japan, reaching approximately 48 meters, exceeding even the 45-meter temple housing the Great Buddha at Todai-ji. Scholars debated this claim for centuries. Then, in 2000, workers excav...

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Image: Mti | CC BY-SA 3.0

Izumo-taisha: An Architecture Unlike Any Other

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bigjap, CC BY-SA 3.0. The main hall gives its name to taisha-zukuri, the oldest style of shrine architecture in Japan. What makes it peculiar among Shinto buildings is its asymmetry. Most shrines are symmetrical, but Izumo-taisha's floor plan is deliberately off-center, with nine support pillars divid...

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Image: Bigjap | CC BY-SA 3.0

Izumo-taisha: Five Tons of Sacred Rope

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jnn, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Kagura-den, the hall for ritual performances, features the largest shimenawa in Japan. This sacred straw rope stretches 13.5 meters long and weighs approximately five tons, hanging across the entrance in a thick, braided crescent that visitors photograph from every angle. The...

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Image: Jnn | CC BY-SA 3.0