Mikurusujinja Shrine

Just before the Jinshin War, the largest civil conflict of ancient Japan, Prince Oama — later Emperor Tenmu — fled the capital at Otsu and, on the road to Yoshino, stopped at a village where he was served boiled and roasted chestnuts. He is said to have buried them in the ground and prayed for victory. In time they sprouted into a chestnut grove, and the harvest was presented to the imperial court. This shrine is the setting of that story. It is one of the three shrines of the Tawara Festival, and the sacred cedar in its grounds is a town-designated natural monument.