Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region

Okinoshima has unique archaeological sites that have survived nearly intact, providing a chronological account of how ancient rituals based on nature worship developed from the fourth to the ninth centuries. It is of outstanding archaeological value also because of the number and quality of offerings discovered there, underscoring the great importance of the rituals and serving as evidence of their evolution over a period of 500 years, in the midst of a process of dynamic overseas exchange in East Asia. Rituals similar to those performed on Okinoshima were conducted on Oshima and the main island of Kyushu from the seventh to the ninth centuries. Okitsu-miya, Nakatsu-miya and Hetsu-miya, together with their ancient ritual sites, continue to serve as places of worship today as the shrines of Munakata Taisha. Okitsu-miya Yohaisho is a place to worship the sacred island from afar that had been established by the eighteenth century. The Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group, which dates to the fifth and sixth centuries, offers evidence concerning the lives of members of the Munakata clan, who performed the Okinoshima rituals and developed the religious tradition that has been passed down to this day.