The Atsuta-jingû in Nagoya along with the Great Shrines of Ise-daijingû and Izumo-taisha in Ise, is one of the oldest and most important Shinto places of worship in Japan. Probably founded in the 3rd century, the shrine is dedicated to one of the 3 insignia of the throne, the “grass-cutting sword”. According to the myth, the storm god Susano-o finds the sword in the tail of a giant snake he has killed – through his successor Ôkuninushi, the weapon later falls into the hands of Ninigi, a grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu. The sword therefore symbolises, along with the crooked jewels and the mirror, the rule of the Yamato dynasty. Shrine was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1955.
