 The shrine is dedicated to the veneration of Takeiwatatsu-no-Mikoto (健磐龍命), who was a grandson of Japan's first emperor and the brother of Emperor Suizei, the second monarch on the traditional list of emperors.In the same period that Emperor Jimmu was establishing his palace at Kashihara at the foot of Mount Unebi in Yamato province, Takeiwatasu was sent to Aso where he helped establish a number of agricultural communities; and later, he is said to have built a palace at Miyagi.The original location of the shrine is uncertain because it was destroyed and rebuilt many times in or near the crater of Aso-san.