Shimenawa of the Land of Myths

Also written: 神話の里のしめ縄 · 神话之乡的注连绳

In areas such as Takachiho, communities display shimenawa (sacred straw ropes) year-round, marking the region as a vibrant center of Shinto tradition.

Miyazaki Kyushu-Okinawa Culture & Tradition

About this place

In Takachiho Town, Miyazaki Prefecture, the tradition of displaying shimenawa year-round is inseparable from daily life and offers a living window into Japanese mythology. Known as the Land of Myths, Takachiho enshrines the legend of Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess, who hid herself in a cave called Amano Iwato, plunging the world into darkness. According to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, the myriad gods gathered at Amano Yasukawara to lure her out, and after she emerged, the god Futodama-no-Mikoto stretched a sacred straw rope across the cave entrance so she would never return, an act regarded as the origin of shimenawa. At Amano Iwato Shrine, this cave itself is the shintai, or sacred body, situated on a sheer cliff roughly fifty meters above the Iwato River and seventy meters below the ridge, in a forbidden area no one may enter. For centuries, no rope hung there, despite Takachiho being called the birthplace of shimenawa. Villagers felt the absence keenly and believed restoring the mythic appearance would bring light back to a troubled world. In December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic when tourism collapsed by eighty percent, the 24th chief priest Sato Nagamichi fulfilled a long-held wish with help from world-class alpinist Takenouchi Hirotaka and three other professional climbers who abseiled to replace a specially made rope about twenty meters long and five centimeters thick, designed to be light yet wind-resistant. Since 2021 the retying has been held annually on the winter solstice as the Amano Iwato Shimenawa Hari Shinji, praying for brightness and continuity of myth. The ritual begins with a Kaburaya arrow offering by the Kyudo club of Takachiho High School, followed by solemn norito prayers, then the climbers' work, and in the afternoon a tatami-throwing contest called Iwato-nage, derived from the legend of Tajikarao-no-Mikoto hurling the cave door to Nagano's Togakushi Mountain, plus performances of Amano Iwato Kagura, a nationally designated intangible folk cultural property. Beyond the shrine, almost every house, shop, and even convenience stores in Takachiho hang shimenawa all year, renewing them at year-end. The ropes typically feature seven, five, and three straw tassels representing the seven generations of heavenly deities, five generations of earthly deities, and three creation deities, numbers considered indivisible and protective. Local workshops like Warazaiku Takubo preserve hand-braiding techniques using rice straw, and the town's deep valleys, terraced rice fields like Tochimata, and night Kagura performances reinforce its reputation as a power spot where Shinto remains a daily practice rather than a museum piece, drawing researchers and visitors from abroad seeking sustainable spiritual culture.