Rebuilt in the 17C, this shrine with asymmetric roofs (Nagare-zukuri style) is composed of three buildings (Ugu, Sagu, Betsugu), each dedicated to one of the three local deities responsible for Tohoku's development. Shiotsuchi-Oji no kami (housed in the Betsugu) is the most important of the three. She protects fishermen but also pregnant women, which raises the question of a link between salt and pregnancy - shio means salt but it also signifies the tide - and there is also a Japanese saying that babies are always born during an incoming tide, when the moon is high in the sky.