Shizuma Shrine & Shizunoiwaya Cave

 

Shizuma Shrine is on a small road close to the coast in Shizuma near Oda in Shimane.

In earlier times it was located inside a nearby sea cave, but a storm in 1674 changed the topography of the cave and so the shrine was moved to its current location.

It was founded in the 9th century and enshrines Okuninushi and Sukunahikona and is based on a poem in the second volume of the Manyoshu.

The poem mentions a stone chamber used as a temporary dwelling by Okuninushi and Sukunahiko while they were "creating" the land.

However, a couple of other sites also lay claim to being the "stone chamber", one a shrine in the mountains upriver from me, and the other a place in Hyogo. As all the Okuninushi and Sukunahikona stories are set in the Shimane and Tottori regions, the Hyogo claim seems suspect.

A monument inside the cave memorializes the Manyoshu poem.

The cave has two entrances, although now they are roped off and no-one can enter because of the danger of falling rocks.

The cave is on the beach right next to the small fishing village of Uozu, just west of the mouth of the Shizuma River.

I visited at the start of the fifth day of my deep exploration of the coast of the Sea of Japan. The previous post was on Isotake Beach where I ended the 4th day.