The ichinomiya of Tajima Province

What the Japanese sources say

Two shrines are treated as the ichinomiya, Izushi Jinja (出石神社) and Awaga Jinja (粟鹿神社), but public bodies do not word it the same way.

For Izushi Jinja, the city of Toyooka says that “as the ichinomiya of Tajima Province it enshrines Ame no Hiboko, the ancestral deity of the opening up of Tajima, together with eight treasures”, and the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History also calls it “the shrine that is the Tajima ichinomiya”. These are in the present tense.

For Awaga Jinja, the Asago Tourism Bureau says it is “a myōjin taisha — the top grade of shrine — under the Engishiki (延喜式, a law code completed in 927 that lists the official shrines), and the ichinomiya of Tajima”, while the Tajima Furusato-zukuri Association writes, in the past tense and with reserve, that it “was at one time called the ichinomiya of Tajima Province”.

Both shrines are said to be myōjin taisha of the Engishiki, and they are geographically apart: Izushi Jinja in eastern Tajima (Izushi, Toyooka City) and Awaga Jinja in southern Tajima (Santō-chō, Asago City, on the San’indō road). No primary source giving a reason for the two standing side by side could be found.

Written from Japanese sources, each quoted. The Japanese page has the same discussion with the original wording.