Taga Taisha

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

Researched and written by Hinato

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Photo: z tanuki / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) · original

Taga Taisha sits in Shiga the way most sacred sites in Japan do: unhurried, and easy to rush past if you don't know to slow down.

Taga Taisha enshrines Izanagi and Izanami, the pair who in the Kojiki make the islands of Japan and most of the gods in it, which gives this shrine an unusually senior claim for somewhere so little visited by foreign travellers. It is the head of around 240 Taga shrines nationwide and the old saying runs that Ise's deity is the child of Taga's — a piece of local one-upmanship that has been repeated for centuries.

It is a longevity shrine. Toyotomi Hideyoshi is recorded as having endowed it while praying for his mother's recovery, and the arched stone bridge at the entrance is named for him. In August the precinct is hung with more than ten thousand paper lanterns sent by worshippers across the country for the Manto-sai, which is the one time of year the town is full.

What to know before you visit

Opening hours

Grounds open through the day | Manto-sai lantern festival 3–5 August, lanterns lit after dark

Closed: Open year-round

When to go

3–5 August for the Manto-sai lantern festival | Late November for autumn colour in the grounds

Admission fee

Free

How long to allow

1–1.5 hours

How to reach it

Directions

Taga 604, Taga Town, Inukami District. About a short walk from Taga Taisha-mae Station on the Ohmi Railway; by car from Hikone Interchange. The grounds are free and open through the day. The Manto-sai lantern festival runs from 3 to 5 August, with a fire rite on the evening of the first day and more than ten thousand lanterns lit in the precinct. Itokiri-mochi rice sweets are sold by long-established shops on the approach, generally from 8:00 AM until they run out.

Visiting etiquette & tips

**3 to 5 August for the lanterns.** Ten thousand-plus paper lanterns donated by worshippers, lit after dark. It is the reason to time a visit rather than pass through. **Buy itokiri-mochi on the approach.** Rice-flour cakes filled with bean paste and cut with a thread rather than a knife, sold by shops that have done it for generations and that close when they sell out. **The saying about Ise.** The deity of Ise is the child of the deity of Taga — a claim the shrine has been making since at least the medieval period and which explains the scale of a place most visitors have never heard of. **Taiko-bashi is steep and usually roped.** The arched stone bridge at the entrance, named for Hideyoshi, is crossed only on ceremonial days. **Kotosanzan is nearby.** Three mountain temples at the foot of the Suzuka range that are the region's autumn destination, and Taga makes a natural first stop on the way.

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