In 2005 I made my first tip to Takachiho in Kyushu. I very much enjoyed it. The gorge was a striking
phenomenon and one could see why it would attract attention. The town claims to be where the kami first descended to earth from heaven (tenson korin) in the form of Amaterasu’s grandson, Ninigi no mikoto. I was lucky to be taken round the shrine of Ama no Iwato-jinja by a young priest who pointed out a cave on the opposite bank where the sun goddess Amaterasu supposedly hid. He said it used to be more round (like a mirror?), but had crumbled in the intervening centuries. I noticed that from the shrine the cave was in the line of where the rising sun would come up from behind the mountain. Neat. (For a touristic introduction to Takachiho, see http://www.jref.com/practical/takachiho.shtml).
Cave where the gods met to consult about Amaterasu
The highlight of the visit was coming unexpectedly on the cave where the gods are said to have gone to consult amongst themselves about what to do about Amaterasu. The riverside opening was highly atmospheric, with a torii at the dark entrance, a candle-lit shrine in its depths, and thousands of small stone piles built by visitors. Very striking.
I asked the priest why he thought Ninigi no mikoto chose Takachiho for his descent from heaven. He said he could not explain that. Later however I put the same question to a taxi driver who had an amateur passion for the local myths and stories. He told me that there was a geological theory that this was the first part of Kyushu to stick out from the sea after the ice age. Interesting! Was there perhaps some ancient folk memory lingering in Yayoi times of the first humans having lived in this area? He also pointed out that Takachiho had been close to the sea in the past, and that the land between mountain and sea provided a good living for the hunter-gatherers.
He then took me to a place where local legend said that Jimmu was born. This was almost a secret place, up a track on a small hill where there was an opening before a forest, before which a shimenawa was strung. This was in the form of Shinto’s earliest form of shrine, with the forest itself as the focus of worship. It is believed locally that a palace of some kind once stood there, in which Jimmu was born.
Artist's impression of Emperor Jimmu
Following that he took me to a hill on which he said legend held Ninigi had descended from heaven. Again this was well off the beaten track and difficult to get to. We had to get out of the taxi and walk the last part, up to an opening where stood a shrine facing towards the peak of the oddly shaped hill. This was Futagami Jinja, so called because of the double peak of the hill (presumably the oddity of a hill with double peaks marked it out as special).
Finally, the taxi driver told me excitedly of a Kyoto University honorary professor called Umehara Takeshi, a much respected philosopher, who has written a book Tennoke no Furasato Hyuga o Yuku in which he puts forward the idea that the imperial line beginning with Emperor Jimmu originates from Takachiho. Not surprisingly, the professor was a big hero in the town.
Local lore has it that Jimmu stayed in Takachiho until the age of 45, when he went down river and was taken by the current along the coast to Mimitsu. From there he departed on his expansion eastwards. When I got to Miyazaki Shrine, however, I found that they claimed Jimmu had a palace there before departing eastwards. There was also a picture in the waiting room of Ninigi descending on Takachiho – but a quite different Takachiho! This one was the volcanic peak of Takachiho no mine in Kagoshima Prefecture (1574m). Apparently it is an impressive sight with great views, and since kami like to descend on high peaks the claim seems reasonable enough. Next time I’ll be heading there for sure…..
I came away with the impression that Jimmu is a lot like King Arthur. Some believe him legendary, some believe him based on a real person, and some believe him an amalgamation of different figures. As with Arthur, places are eager to claim association with him. Whatever the truth of the matter, a visit to the town of Takachiho is an inspiring occasion and I was delighted with the romance as well as the charming kagura masked drama that is put on in the evenings.
Izanagi and Izanami in a pas de deux
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