[5] He was formerly worshiped in the imperial palace,[6] but Amaterasu was ultimately promoted over him when Emperor Sujin was disturbed by the presence of two competing kami'.

[7] Another interpretation is that Amaterasu's influence actually suffered as a result of this, as the center of her cult moved from the imperial palace to more diffuse locations, culminating in Ise.

[10]In the Nihon Shoki, Amaterasu, via the Yata-no-Kagami and the Kusanagi sword, and Yamato Okunitama were originally worshiped in the imperial palace's great hall.

Amaterasu was moved to a village named Kasanui in Yamato Province, where a himorogi altar was built out of solid stone.

[11][a] Sujin placed his daughter Toyosukiiri-hime in charge of the new shrine, where she would become the first Saiō,[13] entrusted with her the mirror and sword, she brought them to the village of Kasanuhi.

[11] These efforts still did not alleviate the ongoing plague, so Sujin decreed that a divination be performed sometime during the 7th year of his reign, that would involve him making a trip to the plain of Kami-asaji, and invoking the eighty myriad deities.

[14] After these events, the Nihon Shoki narrative continues that Sujin's aunt Yamatototohimomoso-hime (倭迹迹日百襲媛命), the daughter of the seventh emperor Kōrei, acted as a shrine maiden, and was possessed by a god who identified himself as Ōmononushi,[11][2] possibly the same entity as Yamato Okunitama.

Sujin was later given guidance in the form of a dream to seek out a man named Ōtataneko [ja] and appoint him as head priest.