is one reason the shrine is regarded as a patron. However, there is no mention of the shrine in either the Nihon Shoki or the Kojiki and the earliest written records, the Hitachi Fudoki, does not identify the Kashima-no-Ōkami with Takemikazuchi. History According the shrine legend, Kashima Jingū was established in the first year of the legendary Emperor Jimmu, or approximately 600 BC. This is well into Japanese prehistory, and the oldest written records mentioning the shrine are in the Asuka period Fudoki (風土記) of Hitachi province, indicating that a , or private house of ritual was rebuilt in 649 AD on a site where the great celestial god descended from the heavens and where religious ceremonies and festivals had been held since the time of Emperor Sujin, Yamato Takeru and Emperor Tenji. This region was the ancestral stronghold of the Nakatomi clan, who were strongly allied to the Yamato court, and the area around Kashima became a center for strengthening the imperial court's control of eastern Japan following the Taika Reform. As both a war deity and a water deity, the Kashima kami were connected with military campaigns against the Emishi tribes of northern Japan. The treasury of the shrine has a one bucket said to have been a war trophy once owned by the Emishi leader Aterui. During the Nara period, the Nakatomi clan rose to prominence and changed their name to Fujiwara and played a central role in reorganizing the Shinto ritual system. By the Heian period, Kashima Jingū was given the highest rank and the Shinto hierarchy, along with Ise Grand Shrine and Kashima Shrine. The Engishiki records list the shrine as the ichinomiya of Hitachi Province. Although the Fujiwara clan lost much of its power into the Kamakura period, the shrine continued to enjoy high status and prestige with the warrior class and was strongly supported by successive samurai governments and local daimyō. Minamoto no Yoritomo granted the shrine numerous estates, and many members of the samurai class entered the priesthood, sometimes advancing to very senior positions. The shrine buildings were extensively reconstructed during the early Edo period, with Tokugawa Ieyasu sponsoring the reconstruction of the main shrine in 1605 (currently the main building of the Oku-no-miya Shrine), Tokugawa Hidetada rebuilding the current main shrines in 1619 and with Tokugawa Yorifusa contributing the tower gate in 1634. In 1687, poet Matsuo Bashō traveled to the