Suwa Taisha

Suwa Taisha is one of Japan's most ancient and venerated Shinto shrine complexes, with origins predating recorded history and first mentioned in the Kojiki, Japan's oldest written chronicle from 712 CE. Uniquely, the shrine consists of four separate buildings divided into two pairs: the Upper Shrine (Kamisha) on the southern shore of Lake Suwa in Suwa and Chino cities, and the Lower Shrine (Shimosha) on the northern shore in the town of Shimosuwa. The shrine is best known for the Onbashira Festival, held once every six years, where massive fir logs are felled from the mountains and ridden downhill by daring participants before being erected at the shrine's four corners in a ritual dating back over 1,200 years. The shrine grounds are set amid towering ancient trees, and the Kamisha Honmiya features distinctive architecture without a main hall, instead worshipping the mountain behind it as its sacred body. Suwa Taisha enshrines the deity Takeminakata, associated with wind, water, and agriculture, and pilgrims have journeyed to this sacred site for well over a millennium.