Ashitaka-jinja, Shinto shrine in Japan

Ashitaka-jinja is a small Shinto shrine located in Sasaoki, a neighborhood within Kurashiki. The structure features simple wooden buildings with a traditional roof design, surrounded by trees and quiet pathways for visitors to walk.

According to shrine tradition, Ashitaka-jinja was founded in the reign of Emperor Sujin. It appears in the Engishiki register of 927 as a minor shrine of Kuboya district, and in 947 Emperor Murakami sent Fujiwara no Kanenari to present offerings. The hall was rebuilt in 949, and in 985 the Jingū-ji Henshō-in was founded as its temple.

The shrine is also known as "Hosenge-no-miya" (the shrine of the lowered sails): when the hill was still the island of Kotake-jima or Sasa-jima, currents and whirlpools around it were so strong that passing boats lowered their sails and prayed to the kami for safe passage. The name of the Sasaoki district comes from "off the coast of Sasa-jima".

The shrine stands on the 67-metre summit of Mount Ashitaka in Sasaoki, southern Kurashiki; the hill was an island in the Kibi inlet until land reclamation between the Momoyama and early Edo periods joined it to the mainland. The summit area is now Ashitaka Park, busy with cherry-blossom viewers in spring. The site is reached on foot, and the climb to the hilltop shrine is part of the visit.

Until the late Edo period the shrine was written "Ashitaka" with the character for reed, and it was also called "Hosage-no-miya", the shrine of the lowered sails: ships passing the island furled their sails and prayed to the deity for safe passage through the swift whirlpools.