ABSTRACT
Oyamato Jinja, written indifferently 大和神社 or 大倭神社, is in Asawa-mura Niizumi in Yamabe-gōri of the province of Yamato, and officially is said to be sacred to Okunitama-no-Kami, Yachihoko-no-Kami and Mitoshi-no-Kami 3 “za.” It is one of the very few shrines whose foundation is chronicled in Nihonshoki, but Kojiki is silent with regard to it. There are however few shrines of importance of which we know so little, and Kojiruien devotes but 5 pages to it. This is the more regrettable and disappointing, for unquestionably its foundation marked an important development, and, unless I am mistaken, was an early instance of the employment of religion for political purposes. Though rather long I propose to reproduce the references to the shrine in Nihonshoki, and I quote from the late Mr. Aston's translation.—6th year of the Emperor Sujin (B. C. 92).
