The blessings of volcanoes
that have nurtured life
Cave shrine
Shizunoiwaya Cave
Shizunoiwaya, written of by Oishi-no-Suguri-no-Mahito in the ancient Manyoshu anthology, is the legendary place where the deities Onamuchi-no-Mikoto and Sukunahikona-no-Mikoto lived for a time when creating the land, and Shizunoiwaya Cave is said to be the location of that place.
The cave has two mouths and is 45 meters deep and 13 meters high. Long ago, it was a place of worship, and Shizuma Shrine used to be enshrined within the cave. A torii gate still stands at one mouth of the cave. The bedrock of the cave was formed by the deposition of volcanic ejecta about 15 million years ago, and the faults and dikes are intricately intermeshed, revealing the intensity of the crustal movements that formed the Japanese archipelago. The wide space within the cave was formed when waves eroded the fragile parts of the rock cracked by the faults.
Shizunoiwaya, written of by Oishi-no-Suguri-no-Mahito in the ancient Manyoshu anthology, is the legendary place where the deities Onamuchi-no-Mikoto and Sukunahikona-no-Mikoto lived for a time when creating the land, and Shizunoiwaya Cave is said to be the location of that place.
- 1Shizu no Iwaya
- Besides Shizunoiwaya Cave, other possible locations for this legendary site are “Ishinohoden” in Takasago City, Hyogo Prefecture and “Shizuiwaya” in Onan Town, Shimane Prefecture.
