Towatari Shrine
Towatari Shrine (登渡神社, "Towatari-jinja"), also known as Nobuto Shrine (登戸神社, "Nobuto-jinja"), is a Shinto shrine located in Nobuto, Chūō-ku, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. Originally a branch temple of Kongojū-ji, a temple to the Buddhist deity Myōken founded by the Chiba clan (modern Chiba Shrine), it was converted into a Shinto shrine during the mid-19th century. Deities. The shrine is dedicated to the three deities of creation (造化三神, "zōka sanshin") of classical Japanese mythology: Ame-no-Minakanushi, Takamimusubi, and Kamimusubi. Enshrined together with them is , originally the deity of a nearby shrine that was merged  into Nobuto Shrine in 1908 (Meiji 41). History. The shrine was originally founded in 1644 (Shōhō 1) by , 33rd head of the Chiba clan, as a Buddhist temple named Hakujasan Shinkō-in Jōin-ji (白蛇山真光院定胤寺). It was a branch temple or "matsuji" (末寺) of Kongojū-ji (also known as Chiba Myōken-ji), a temple dedicated to Myōken, the Buddhist deification of the Big Dipper and/or the northern pole star revered by the Chiba clan as their patron deity (what is today Chiba Shrine). In 1867 (Keiō 3), the temple became a Shinto shrine dedicated to the gods Ame-no-Minakanushi  (a deity in Japanese mythology conflated with Myōken), Takamimusubi, and Kamimusubi and renamed "Towatari Shrine". In 1990 (Heisei 2), the shrine's "honden" (dating from 1860) was moved to its present location and a new "hei"-"haiden" constructed in front of it.