Lifestyles and Traditions - Shrines
In 1221, Emperor Go-Toba, who was a cloistered emperor back then, was exiled to Oki due to the Jōkyū Rebellion. It is said that he lodged at Genpuku-ji Temple, and a former official of the local government with the family name Murakami, who was also the official of official documents and farmland of Ama district, served as the guard and watchman of the exiled emperor. 19 years later in 1239, on the 22nd day of the second month of the lunar calendar, the exiled emperor passed away and was cremated three days later on the mountain behind Genpuku-ji Temple. His ashes were interred and a cremation mound was erected. In 1658, Matsudaira Naomasa, the lord of the Matsue Domain, built a mausoleum and tried to maintain it until the Meiji Period, when Genpuku-ji Temple was temporarily closed in 1689 due to the effect of the anti-Buddhist movement.
On a map, created in late-Edo Period, owned by the Go-Toba Museum in Ama Town, it shows "Go-Toba Shrine" at the site of the cremation mound, and it is said that rituals were held here by the locals in late-Edo Period. However, in 1873, the spirit of the cloistered emperor was transferred to Minase Shrine in Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka, and later in 1874, Go-Toba Shrine was also removed. It is said that the rituals continued even after that, and later, the grounds of the former Genpuku-ji Temple, which forms the center of this shrine, was designated as the burial site of Emperor Go-Toba in Oki.
In 1940, as one of the commemorative events for the 2600th anniversary of the foundation of Japan, the construction of Oki Shrine by Shimane Prefecture began and it was completed in 1939. In 1943, Oki Shrine was listed as a prefectural shrine, and in 1939, the 700th Anniversary Festival of Emperor Go-Toba was held to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the passing of the cloistered emperor.
