Thirteen hundred years,
unbroken rites.

After the Taika Reforms swept away most of the ancient "kokuso" — provincial governor — titles across the nation, the Izumo Kokuso alone remained, an exception that kept its title intact. Tracing its ancestry to Ame-no-Hohi, this family split once in the 14th century, yet continues to carry out the rites of Izumo Taisha to this day.

The Senge and Kitajima houses — the lineage of the priestly family, split in two

An Ancient Title That Survived

Even as the kokuso system was abolished, the Izumo Kokuso remained.

"Kokuso" was an ancient title for regional governors, used when the Yamato court entrusted local rule to powerful clans across the country. The Izumo Kokuso is said to have been dispatched beginning with Ame-no-Hohi, said to be a son of Amaterasu, specifically to carry out the rites for Okuninushi following the ceding of the land.

From the 7th-century Taika Reforms onward, as the ritsuryo legal system took shape, the kokuso title was abolished or reduced to a formality almost everywhere in the country. The Izumo Kokuso, however, remained the exception, preserving both the title and its function, and has been passed down through a single family line to this day as the special position responsible for the rites of Izumo Taisha.

A 14th-Century Succession Dispute

The Senge and Kitajima houses — why did the family split in two?

In the 14th century, during the Nanboku-cho period, a serious succession dispute broke out over who would succeed the 53rd Kokuso, Izumo Takatoki. Takatoki had initially intended to pass the position of Kokuso to his son Sadataka, but at his mother's wishes, the elder son Kiyotaka ultimately became the successor instead.

When Kiyotaka later tried to pass the position to his younger brother Takamune, Sadataka strongly objected — halting rites, gathering an armed force, and barricading himself inside the shrine hall, according to the accounts that survive. To settle the crisis, the regional deputy shugo stepped in to mediate, and a ruling was handed down dividing the year's rites, lands, and offices equally between the two houses.

As a result, from 1344 onward, Takamune's line took the name "Senge," and Sadataka's line took the name "Kitajima," and the two Kokuso houses stood side by side. For roughly the next 500 years, up until the Meiji era, the two houses coexisted, sharing the rites of Izumo Taisha between them.

Their relationship today: In the Meiji era, both the Senge and Kitajima families were raised to the peerage, but the position of chief priest of Izumo Taisha came to rest with the Senge house. The Kitajima family today leads "Izumokyo," one of the Izumo Taisha-affiliated religious organizations, continuing its own independent religious activities.

The Kokuso Family Today

The 84th Kokuso, still carrying out the rites.

Today, the Senge family's 84th Kokuso, Senge Takamasa, leads the day-to-day rites of Izumo Taisha as its chief priest. When a new Kokuso succeeds to the position, time-honored ceremonies are still carried out, including the "Shinnin Kokuso Shinga-shi Sojo-shiki," demonstrating that the lineage of ritual practice, stretching back more than 1,300 years, has continued unbroken.

In 2014, the widely reported marriage of Senge Kunimaro, of the Senge family, to Princess Noriko of Takamado, brought renewed nationwide attention to the existence of the Izumo Kokuso family.

A Faith of Renewing the Hall

Sengu — restoring the hall, and moving the sacred object.

Izumo Taisha has carried out "sengu," or shrine renewal, on a cycle of roughly once every 60 years. This is a sequence of rites in which the sacred object is temporarily moved to a provisional hall during major restoration work, such as re-thatching the great hall's cypress-bark roof, and then returned to the great hall once the work is complete.

In recent times, after the "Karidono Senza-sai" rite moved the sacred object to a temporary hall in 2008, major restoration of the great hall proceeded, and in May 2013 the "Honden Senza-sai" rite returned the sacred object to the newly restored great hall. This is the renewal widely known as the "Great Heisei-era Sengu." The next sengu is expected roughly 60 years from then.

How this differs from Ise Jingu's shikinen sengu: Ise Jingu's shikinen sengu, held every 20 years, involves rebuilding the shrine structures entirely anew. Izumo Taisha's sengu, by contrast, preserves the existing great hall while carrying out major restoration such as re-thatching the roof. Even under the same word "sengu," the practice differs from shrine to shrine.

Scattered across the vast grounds are small sacred sites beyond the great hall itself.

Within the grounds of Izumo Taisha, home to 1,300 years of ritual practice, small shrines such as Sogasha and Inochinushi-sha are still carefully tended today, alongside the great hall. Let's tour the sacred sites scattered around the Grand Shrine, from Inasa Beach to Hinomisaki.