I’ve passed by Suetsugu Shrine countless times, but never ventured inside.

This little shrine is dedicated to Izanami, and was recorded in the Izumo-no-Kuni-Fudoki (Chronicles of Ancient Izumo, 713-733 AD), hundreds of years before the founding of Matsue as we know it today. It used to be on Mt. Kameda instead, but when the city was being laid out, Horio Yoshiharu had it moved to the Chamachi district and named the neighborhood after it (these blocks are still called Suetsugu today, though they use a more modern, abbreviated kanji compound to spell it: 末次 as opposed to 須衛都久). Many people visited Chamachi to pay their respects to the ancient shrine, but after it was damaged in the flood of 1674, the ruling Matsudaira fuedal lord ordered it moved to it’s present location a little further from the banks of Lake Shinji.

The edges of this shrine are covered with all kinds of plants–it looks different in every season when I walk by it.


Nobody’s here except for me in in the reflection, and Izanami hidden out of sight in the honten beyond this space!


The omikuji fortune slips are only 20 yen here, and sold on an honor system. Drop in your change, then reach in and grab one.


This shrine is seldom visited enough that can tie your fortune slip directly to the shrine building instead of to a fence or tree branch.


Good old Taisha-tsukuri style! But what is that under the honten?


Why, it’s a horse… of course.


What I’m really curious about is what used to be here that these gaurdian dogs are still faithfully protecting. Holy trees are pretty common in Shinto worship, but now maybe it’s holy flowers growing out of this very large holy stump.


She’s seen better days.

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