Futarasan Shrine located on Mount Nikko in Nikko City, Tochigi Pref. is Japan’s one of the largest shrines with a huge precinct, in which the eight peaks of Nikko mountain range, the Kegon Waterfall and Iroha Slopes are included. The enshrined deities are Omunachi no Mikoto, Tagorihime no Mikoto and Ajisuki Takahikone no Mikoto, who are generically named Futarasan Okami (great God of Mount Futara). To distinguish it from the shrine in nearby Utsunomiya, it is also called Nikko Futarasan Shrine.
The shrine dates back to 767, when Priest Shodo from Shimotsuke province trained himself in Nikko mountains and built a shrine to worship Mt. Futara (present-day Mt. Nantai). Until the Meiji Restoration, it was part of Nikko Sanja Gongen, but according to the law in the Meiji period that separated Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, it became independent as Futarasan Shrine.
The shrine possesses a lot of National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties such as a large sword made in the Nanbokucho period (1336-1392). The copper lantern called “Bake-doro (Ghost Lantern)” and Daikoku Hall in Sacred Garden are also famous.