The shrine’s home page tells us that it us the oldest shrine in Kawasaki and Yokohama. It is said to have been founded during the reign of the 33rd emperor, Suiko (reigned 593-628) , and it was initially known as Sugiyama Daimyojin. It did not take its present name until 1920. In the Shoku Nihon Shoki, the fifth of Japan’s Six National Histories, we are told that in February 838 Sugiyama Jinja in Musashi Province owing to its spiritual power had been entrusted by the government. An Edo Period scholar, Kurokawa Harumaura黒川春村 wrote about ceremonies held at the shrine to pray for successful rice harvests in the coming year in a work called "Sugiyama Myojin Jinju Kashato". 

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In 1241 Minamoto no Yoritsune is said to have visited the shrine and apparently expressed a wish that a zelkova tree in its grounds would grow to be as big as he was, presumably in terms of status. In 1962 the tree died, but in uprooting it several Haji earthenware relics dating from the Late Yayoi Period (circa 300 BC to 300 AD) to the Kamakura Period were unearthed. 

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