Tsushima Shrine

Tsushima Shrine (津島神社, Tsushima Jinja) is a Shinto shrine in Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Nationally famous, it heads the Tsushima shrine network, dedicated to the so-called Tsushima Cult (津島信仰, Tsushima Shinkō). This Tōkai-centered network with its about 3000 member shrines is the tenth largest in the country. The main kami of this faith are Gozutennō (牛頭天王, lit. ox-headed heaven king), the god of pestilences, and Susanoo, two deities which have been conflated together. For this reason, like other shrines of the network it is also called Tsushima Gozutennō-sha (津島牛頭天王社, lit. Tsushima Gozutennō Shrine). Shrine legend says that Gozutennō's aramitama (its violent side) stays at Izumo-taisha, whereas its nigemitama (calm aspect) came to Japan from the Korean peninsula after stopping in Tsushima Island, between Korea and Japan. This may explain the relationship between the two Tsushimas suggested by the common name. The shrine holds a festival called Tsushima Matsuri (津島祭り) in the sixth month of the lunar calendar (July in the gregorian calendar) during which boats called danjiri (車楽) are floated on the Tennō River, and reeds are released into the water. The shrine is built in the owari-zukuri style, of which few extant examples remain.