Hoori's Shrines: Kagoshima Jingu and the Ichinomiya of Osumi

Hoori is not merely a figure of narrative; he is an enshrined kami with a documented, continuing cult of his own, distinct from his father Ninigi's larger shrine at Kirishima. Kagoshima Jingu, standing in Kirishima City on the Satsuma peninsula, worships Hoori together with his wife Toyotama-hime as its principal deities, and historically held the rank of ichinomiya, chief shrine, of Osumi Province, the highest formal standing a shrine could carry under the old provincial shrine ranking system. That rank marks Kagoshima Jingu as having been, for centuries, the primary site of official and public reverence for the province it sat in, not merely a local or minor shrine. Kirishima Jingu itself, dedicated chiefly to Ninigi, also enshrines Hoori alongside Konohanasakuya-hime, Toyotama-hime and Ugayafukiaezu as part of the wider family group tied to the region's mythology, so Hoori's worship is carried on two active shrine sites in the same corner of Kyushu rather than surviving only in text. Both shrines remain functioning, staffed Shinto institutions today, conducting regular rites and receiving visitors, giving Hoori a continuous cult that long predates and continues alongside his role as a genealogical link to the imperial house.