Kurotatsu Shrine, one of the Four Great Myojin Gods of Japan, located in Funabashi, Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture

Kurotatsu Shrine

Kurotatsu Shrine is one of the Four Great Myojin Gods: Kashima Daimyojin in the east, Kumano Daigongen in the south, Itsukushima Daimyojin in the west and Kurotatsu Daimyojin in the north. In 477, Oto no Sumeramikoto (later Emperor Keitai) built the shrine in the basin of Kurotatsu River (the present Kuzuryu River). Afterward, the shrine had been relocated several times and now it is located at the south end of the Kuzuryu Bridge over the Kuzuryu River in Funabashi, Fukui City.

*Kurotatsu means a black dragon in Japanese. The shrine's mascot character "Kurotatsu-chan", which depicts a black dragon, appears at the end of the video.

In the past, Funabashi prospered as a post town.

This area prospered as an important place of land and water transportation in the past. Katsuie Shibata, Fukui's military commander in the period of warring states, laid 48 boats side by side on the Kuzuryu River and placed board onto the boats to use as a bridge.
So, it was given the name of Funabashi (boat bridge). The steel chains that used to connect the boats at that time are still displayed at Shibata Shrine in Fukui City.

The huge Sagicho that people in the community are proud of as No.1 in Japan.

The Sagicho that are built for the fire festival held on February 15th are made of rice straws from the rice fields of 1.2 hectares. After "Collecting fans" by children held on February 10th and the framework raising on 11th by all the shrine parishioners, the huge Sagicho appears.