青島神社と宮崎中南部Aoshima Shrine and Central-Southern Miyazaki

Today I am moving around the central and southern parts of Miyazaki. The first place I visited was Aoshima Shrine. Aoshima Shrine is located on a small island off the southern coast of Miyazaki City, but in fact, this island was formed by the accumulation of shells after the uplifted seabed that occurred 2,400 years ago. The island itself is only about one kilometer around, so it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk, but its unique environmental features have long been associated with sea worship. This land also has deep ties to mythology.

It is connected to the legend of the descent of the heavenly grandchild (tenson korin, 天孫降臨) told in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. From Aoshima Shrine, if you head west toward the mountains, you will find Takachiho Peak on the border with Kagoshima. Here, Ninigi, the grandson of Amaterasu, descended, met the local kami Konohanasakuya-hime, formed a union, and had three children, which is where the story begins. The deity enshrined at this shrine is one of those three, Hohodemi, also known as Yamasachihiko. However, based on my ongoing research, I feel that this was already a sacred site of ancient maritime tribes before Hohodemi, and furthermore, that a Yayoi-style faith led by priestesses (miko, 巫女) existed here.

Though small, the island hosts 226 species of subtropical and tropical plants growing naturally within the grounds, creating a unique environment. The beach is scattered with countless shells, and evidence suggests that there were tribes who incorporated a type of shell called “cowrie shell” (宝貝) into their religious practice. The symbolic figure here is Toyotama-hime, the sea goddess who becomes the wife of Yamasachihiko, Hohodemi. In Japan, Toyotama-hime is often conflated with Otohime, who appears in the Ryugu legend in the folktale of Urashima Taro, but Otohime was originally Atatsu-hime, a kami of the Nichinan coast further south, who also appears as one of Ninigi’s wives. Alongside Toyotama-hime, this region preserves traces of Yayoi tribal customs.

In other words, before the Ryugu legend took shape, it was Toyotama-hime and the miko of maritime tribes who embodied its prototype. What becomes clear when standing here is that the faith surrounding Toyotama-hime is especially visible at the inner shrine (okumiya, 奥宮) deep in the jungle at the center of Aoshima. Behind this inner shrine, ancient ritual sites remain, and in fact, archaeological traces from the Yayoi period have been discovered here. When the orientation is examined, the ritual site faces east. Unlike the current main hall, the former main sanctuary was the inner shrine, which served as the site for secret rites that could not be revealed to external tribes. The fact that it was “east-facing” may itself carry important meaning, since east points toward Yamato.

Indeed, Yamasachihiko and Toyotama-hime have a child, Ugayafukiaezu, who later becomes the father of Kamu-Yamato-Iwarebiko, who would ascend as Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor. Within mythology, from the descent of the heavenly grandchild to the genealogy of the heavenly deities led by Amaterasu, culminating in the imperial line, this myth holds a critical place. The suggestion that an orientation toward the “east” was already present in ancient times is particularly intriguing. For this reason, interpreting the arrangement of shrines and faiths on this small island is of great significance.

Then, considering Aoshima as the axis, from where did these ancient maritime tribes arrive? Conventional historical theories have tended to emphasize routes from the Korean Peninsula, but in reality, multiple routes existed, and the southern route must also be considered. One piece of evidence lies in the presence of the Livistona palms (biro trees) on Aoshima. About 5,000 of these trees grow naturally on this island, with the oldest specimens confirmed to be about 350 years old, though they clearly existed long before. Their origins have been explained by two main theories: one is that seeds and driftwood drifted northward with the Kuroshio Current, landing here via the seas off the Philippines, Ryukyu, and Amami; the other is that they were already native to this region during ancient climate fluctuations and survived in Aoshima’s unique climate. The southern drift theory is compelling, but it has rarely been considered because Japanese historical debates have neglected the influence of sea currents and winds. In fact, Kunio Yanagita, the founder of folklore studies, pointed out the importance of this early on, but it has not been sufficiently researched since. Currents and winds had different names depending on the season and region, but apart from rare records gathered by folklorists, they have largely been lost.

From Aoshima, I then moved into the mountains of Miyazaki, where it becomes apparent that the figure of Yamasachihiko cannot be simply understood as “Umisachi and Yamasachi,” the duality of sea and mountain. For instance, mythology states that Yamasachihiko ultimately triumphed, yet shrines enshrining Umisachihiko are almost nonexistent. There is, however, one shrine that worships Umisachihiko as its main kami: Shiodake Shrine deep in the mountains of Miyazaki. Despite being far inland, it enshrines a sea deity, which is highly significant. Positioned along a vital route from the Hyuga Sea inland via rivers, Shiodake Shrine is surrounded by forests long considered forbidden grounds and preserves traditions tied to Umisachihiko.

Meanwhile, mythology tells of Umisachihiko’s defeat, and it seems that Yamasachihiko seized maritime power as well, but the fact that Umisachihiko is enshrined deep in the mountains suggests Japan’s deeper cultural layers. What the Umisachi-Yamasachi myth conveys is that in ancient Japan, sea and mountain were not separate but part of a “non-separative worldview.” This memory of non-separation lives on in shrine arrangements and beliefs, reflecting life before tribes began dividing sea and mountain. An old Japanese saying goes, “They are neither of the sea nor of the mountains” (海の者とも山の者とも知れぬ), which likely originated with ancient tribes living fluidly between sea and mountain. This hints at Jomon-era traces.

In this sense, though mythology places Umisachihiko and Yamasachihiko as brothers, in reality, Umisachihiko represents the older, Jomon-era layer of life by the sea, while Yamasachihiko represents the layer that later rose to power carrying a mountain way of life. The myth suggests that in ancient times, across central and southern Miyazaki, a struggle for leadership took place between those who lived by the sea and those who lived by the mountains. That the latter appeared from the mountains rather than the sea indicates that many generations had already passed since they took root in the archipelago. But why did they have to descend from the mountains to seek leadership of the sea?

The answer lies in the multiple volcanoes scattered across Kyushu.