Takabe Shrine, Shinto shrine in Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Takabe Shrine in Minamiboso is a Shinto shrine whose wooden worship hall has a thick thatched roof crossed by two dark beams forming an X above the ridge. A sacred rope with white zigzag paper streamers hangs between two round pillars below the gable, and lattice windows flank the central doorway. Two white paper lanterns inscribed "高家神社" stand at the entrance.

The shrine's origin is unclear; its own tradition links it to descendants of Iwakamutsukari no Mikoto who settled in Awa Province. It appears in the Engishiki register as Takabe Shrine of Asai District, then declined and its site was lost. The present shrine began in 1620, when Takagi Kichiemon found a wooden image and two mirrors beneath a cherry tree and founded Shinmeisha; in 1819, after the mirrors were read as naming Iwakamutsukari no Mikoto, it was renamed Takabe Shrine.

The shrine honours Iwakamutsukari-no-Mikoto, a deity of cooking, and is revered by chefs and soy-sauce brewers. Its name spread nationwide through the writings of Tanaka Naotaro of the Higeta soy-sauce company in Choshi, Ishii Jihei of the Nihon Ryoriho Taizen, and Miyake Koken of the Nihon Ryori Kenkyukai. A wooden statue and two mirrors found under a cherry tree in 1620 are its sacred body.

The shrine stands in the former Chikura town area of Minamiboso, in southern Chiba Prefecture. Visitors enter via stone steps up to a raised stone platform before the wooden facade; the two white paper lanterns flanking the doorway read "高家神社". The grounds are small, so allow a short visit and check locally for the days the knife ceremony is held.

The shrine's name spread nationwide through three men: Tanaka Naotaro, later author of a history of soy sauce brewing, who had a divided spirit enshrined at the Higeta soy sauce factory in Choshi; Ishii Jihei of the Complete Japanese Cooking Methods; and Miyake Koken of the Japan Cooking Research Society.