S P O T ／ SPOT-265

Ubuta Shrine

産田神社うぶたじんじゃ

An ancient shrine in Arima-cho, Kumano City, Mie Prefecture, bearing the name "Ubuta" (birth field) from the tradition that the goddess Izanami gave birth here to the fire deity Kagutsuchi. Its most striking feature is the pair of himorogi — ancient ritual sites that predate any shrine building — surviving on both sides of the main hall, a rare remnant preserving the form of nature worship from before shrine architecture existed; it was designated a cultural property as the "Ubuta Shrine Ritual Site" in 1964. White stones carried from Shichiri-mihama along the Kumano pilgrimage route are spread across the forecourt, forming a purified ritual space. As a shrine to the mother goddess, it is a sanctuary of belief in safe childbirth and fertility, and a custom survives of divining an unborn child's sex from the shape of a stone picked up while praying. At the grand festival each January 10, the "Hohan no Gi" offering-meal rite serves bone-in sanma (Pacific saury) sushi, and the shrine is also called the birthplace of sanma sushi.