Amakusa · JP

Kusuurasuwa Shrine

Kusuura Suwa Shrine (楠浦諏訪神社, Kusuura Suwa-jinja) is a quiet Shinto shrine in the rural hamlet of Kusuura on the island of Amakusa Shimo in Kumamoto Prefecture. It is best known as the guardian shrine standing right beside the Kusuura Megane Bridge, a single-arched stone bridge celebrated as one of the island's most photographed heritage spots—so a visit to one almost automatically includes the other. The shrine enshrines Takeminakata, the mountain-and-water deity of the great Suwa network in Nagano, and Amakusa's local history traces its origins to the mid-17th century, when a spirit was brought over from the Suwa grand shrine. Rebuilt on its present riverside site in 1853, it has sat at the heart of a small farming and fishing community ever since—a calm, off-the-beaten-track stop for travellers already in Amakusa.