Tado Taisha

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

Tado Taishawhite horseAgeuma ShinjiKuwanafolk cultural property

Photo: Yanajin33 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · original

Step through the gate at Tado Taisha and the first thing you notice isn't the architecture — it's the quiet.

Tado Taisha sits at the foot of Mt. Tado in the north of Mie, and the tradition here is that a white horse has lived on the mountain for around fifteen hundred years, carrying the deity and acting as messenger between god and people. A white horse is still kept in a stable in the precinct and visitors feed it carrots.

The shrine's festival on 4 and 5 May is the Ageuma Shinji, in which young riders gallop up a steep earth bank and attempt to clear a two-metre wall at the top; the number of successful jumps is read as a forecast for the harvest. It is a prefectural intangible folk cultural property dating to the Nanbokucho period. The grounds are open at all hours and the shrine-side car park is free.

Plan your visit

Time to allow

60 minutes

Hours

Grounds open 24 hours | Prayers 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM | Amulet office 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Closed: Open year-round

Admission

Free | About 30 free spaces at the shrine-side car park | Lower car park charged at weekends, free on weekdays

Best season

4–5 May for the Ageuma Shinji | Year-round otherwise

Getting there

Access notes

Tado-cho Tado 1681, Kuwana, at the foot of Mt. Tado. By car from Kuwana-Higashi IC on the Higashi-Meihan Expressway, from Yatomi IC or from Ogaki IC; about a short walk from Tado Station on the Yoro Railway, or by Kuwana community bus to the Tado-Taisha-mae stop. The grounds are open 24 hours

What locals know

**Feed the white horse.** A white horse is kept in the precinct in continuation of a tradition about fifteen hundred years old, and carrots are sold at the shrine. **4 and 5 May for the Ageuma.** Riders charging a steep earth bank at a two-metre wall, with the number of clears read as a harvest forecast. It is a prefectural folk cultural property and it is crowded. **Weekday parking is free.** The lower car park charges at weekends; the smaller shrine-side one is free. **Grounds open at all hours.** Prayers and amulets have set times but the precinct itself does not close. **Twenty minutes on foot from Tado Station.** On the Yoro Railway, which is a pleasant slow line in its own right.

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