Nitta Jinja

Nitta Jinja.

In the Satsuma region of southern Kagoshima, on a sacred mountain called Kameyama, sits a shrine that, by tradition, marks the place where Japan's mythical history first touched the earth.

According to the oldest chronicles, the divine ancestor of all Japanese emperors descended from the heavens to a peak in southern Kyushu. After his arrival, he settled here, lived among the local people, and his line eventually became, through generations, the imperial family.

Modern scholars debate whether such a descent ever happened, and where exactly it would have been if it did. But the local tradition, in this part of Kagoshima, has been certain about the answer for over a thousand years. It happened here.

The mountain at this shrine is small, gentle, easy to climb. The path winds through bamboo and camphor trees. The summit, where the main hall stands, gives a wide view over rice fields and small towns and the broad Sendai River flowing toward the East China Sea.

The Sendai River — written with characters that mean "river inside" — has its name traced, by some local stories, to the original deity who, walking the riverbed, made it possible for humans to live here.

The river is still here. The shrine is still here. The mountain is still gentle.

Stand at the top, looking out. The story has its critics and its believers. But the geography, the ancestors, the rice fields, the river — all of these are absolutely real, and have been continuously here.

Some places are real even when the story is uncertain.