Ikune Shrine

Ikune Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Tamade, Nishinari Ward, Osaka City, and is believed to provide protection against stroke and dementia. The Nishinari area was once called Kotsuma, known for a local specialty called “Kotsuma Nankin.” The exact date of the shrine’s founding is unknown, but it is said to have begun when a divided spirit of Sukuna-hikona-no-Kami was invited from Ikune Shrine (Oku no Tenjin), a subordinate shrine of Sumiyoshi Taisha, and enshrined as the tutelary deity of Kotsuma Village (Tamade). Another tradition says that Hiruko-no-Mikoto had been worshiped here even earlier. The shrine was damaged in the Osaka air raids of March 1945 and its buildings were burned down, but the sacred object was safe because it had been moved to Ikune Shrine in Sumiyoshi. The shrine is also known for a “Daigaku,” a 20-meter-tall tower-like structure once used in rainmaking rituals and decorated with about 70 lanterns; it was designated a Tangible Cultural Property of Osaka Prefecture in 1972. The “Daigaku Festival” is held every year on July 24 and 25, when many young people carry the Tamade daigaku.