Chugoku

Located 8 kilometers north of Izumo Taisha Grand Shrine lies another ancient shrine painted red and encircled by a grove of old pine trees. The vermillion-lacquered Hinomisaki Shrine was built in honor of two sibling deities with a prominent presence in Japanese mythology; Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, and her younger brother Susano, the god of storms and the sea. Thus, the shrine is divided into two parts – the Upper Shrine (Kami-no-miya) and Sunset Shrine (Hishizumi-no-miya).