History

In 1600 when Lord Ishida Mitsunari began raising an army, the Tokugawa forces turned around from their original course to the eastern Kanto region back to central Japan. The forces stayed for a time at Iwato Jinja Shrine on their way to Sekigahara—the grounds of what would become one of Japan's most notorious battles.
The stay by Tokugawa's army led to the demise of the shrine, but after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, the Tokugawa Clan restored the shrine to its former glory. The beginnings of the Iwato Festival lie in a ritualistic celebration of the shrine's resurrection requested to Magistrate Ina Bizen-mori Tadatsugu, where the shrine crest took the shape of the Mitsuba Aoi, or three-leaved hollyhock design of the prestigious Tokugawa Clan.