Tomiya was once the strategic transportation spot on the Ohshu Trail. There are many stories about the Date family, and one of them is about Tomiya, which began to flourish when a post station was established there at the insistence of Masamune Date, the first lord of the Sendai Domain, when he expanded his territory toward the Kurokawa region.
There is also a story about this cedar tree. Masamune was enjoying hunting with a falcon one day. He released his loving falcon but it suddenly fell down from the sky, dead. Masamune was greatly saddened by this event, and put the dead falcon in an unglazed jar brought from a nearby farm house. He buried the jar deep under the ground and planted one cedar tree there. The tree grew strong and tall, and soon became a giant tree with long branches. Because the tree was planted over a jar containing the dead falcon, over time the tree became known as a Kame (jar) cedar. It is said that the tree was planted either above the jar or beside the jar, but nobody knows for sure which one.
The Kame-suge cedar is now about 360 years old and growing majestically with roots of about 7 meters in diameter. It is designated as a natural monument by the town and is symbolic of the shrine. |
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Ohgame-yama Forest Park