Kamayama Jinja

Kamayama Jinja enshrines Hikoisetse no Mikoto, the eldest brother of Emperor Jinmu. According to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Hikoisetse no Mikoto was wounded by an arrow during battle with Nagasunehiko at Kusaezaka while accompanying Emperor Jinmu's eastern expedition. He passed away at Onomizato and was buried at Kamayama. The shrine stands behind the Kamayama Mausoleum, designated and administered by the Imperial Household Agency, making this a rare site where mausoleum and shrine occupy the same grounds. Listed in the Engishiki as a shikinaisha, the shrine was elevated from a village shrine to the highest rank of Kanpei Taisha in 1915—the only shrine in Japan known to have risen through every level of the pre-war ranking system. The shrine also administers Shizuhino Jinja, a Myojin Taisha, as an external subordinate shrine.