The Ōta Jinja

It is a mountain sacred site with the oldest history in Hokkaido, and is said to have been founded during the reign of Kakichi (1441-1443) in a cave near the summit of Mt. Ota (485m above sea level), which towers over a cliff. In the past, the Ainu people living in this area called the mountain spirit ''Otakamoi" and worshiped it as the guardian deity of Ezochi. In 1453, Nobuhiro Takeda, the founder of the Matsumae domain, landed in the Ota area and saw the Ainu people praying towards the mountain, so he climbed the mountain himself and discovered that there was a spirit inside the cave. It is said that this belief began in 1454 when he gave the honorific title of 'Ota Daigongen" and spread the word to people widely.