Kusabu Yoshimi Jinja

Kusabe Yoshimi Jinja is enshrined in Takamorimachi, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture, with Hikoyai no Mikoto, the first-born prince of Emperor Jimmu, as its principal deity. According to tradition, Hikoyai no Mikoto came to this land along the Gokasegawa River from Takachiho, slew a great serpent in a pond, filled in the pond, and established his residence with walls of bundled grass. The place was thus named Kusabe, and the shrine received the name Yoshimi from the words meaning 'This is a fine sacred site.' Because the grounds were once a pond, the main hall sits at the bottom of over a hundred stone steps leading down from the torii gate, earning it the name 'Kudari-miya' (Descending Shrine). It is counted among Japan's Three Great Descending Shrines, alongside Udo Jingu in Miyazaki and Nukisaki Jinja in Gunma. Designated as a gosha in the sixth year of Meiji.