There is a headquarters (Cultural Affairs Office) on the precincts of Izumo Taisha in
Shimane Prefecture and
Izumo City, and the staff of Izumo Taisha is also the staff of Izumo-taishakyo. However, while Izumo-taisha itself is affiliated with
Jinja Honcho, legally speaking, Izumo-taishakyo is an independent religious corporation separate from Jinja Honcho and associated with Kyoha Shintō Rengokai. Thus Izumo-taishakyo walks a middle ground between
Shrine Shinto and
Sect Shinto. , the founder of Izumo-taishakyo During the Meiji Period, priests from Izumo Taisha were collected to participate in the creation of a centralized
State Shinto. However, due to conflicts primarily with the traditions of
Ise-jingu, the Izumo tradition was separated into its own sect. In 1872,
Amaterasu,
Takamimusubi,
Kamimusubi, and
Amenominakanushi were decided to be the four main Kami for the national religion, but the Izumo faction argued that
Okuninushi should also be worshiped, which led to a great debate with the Ise faction. However, the Ise faction gained the support of
Emperor Meiji, and the Izumo faction was defeated and Okuninushi was not enshrined. In addition, the "separatist religion decrees" issued by the Meiji government made it so that it was forbidden to carry out the Izumo religion independently of the state. For that reason, Senge Takatomi, the head priest of Izumo-taisha at the time, resigned from Izumo Taisha Omiya and founded Izumo-taishakyo. Izumo-taishakyo was integrated with Izumo-taisha in 1951, but Izumo-taishakyo and Izumo-taisha remain as separate entities. Under the
Allied occupation after World War II, Shinto was separated from the government control and Izumo-taisha was reformed into a private shrine, then Senge and its Izumo-taisha-kyo took back the position of the administrator of Izumo-taisha. , the 83rd-generation of Senge lineage, was chosen to be the chief priest of Izumo-taisha in 1947. he died in February 2002 at the age of 89. The predecessor of Izumo-taishakyo was "Izumo Taisha Keijin-ko", which was established in 1873 by Senge Takatomi, to centralize Izumo-ko (an organization that uses Izumo-taisha as a religion shrine) throughout the country. Propagation institutions are set up all over Japan, especially in the west, centered on the
Chugoku region. Churches (
教会) exist throughout Japan as well, however, they are not officially affiliated with Izumo-taisha itself, and are merely described as "missionary organizations for the Izumo Taisha religion," so they are not referred to as "shrines" or "branches", and thus are not "shrines" that is an inclusive religious corporation of the central government office, nor is a "branch" that is an inclusive religion corporation of the religious corporation Izumo Taishakyo. "Izumo-taisha Okinawa", which was established in Okinawa during the U.S. occupation, did not receive the name "church" at the time. In addition, there are lay organizations nationwide associated with Izumo-taishakyo known as "Ko". Outside of Japan, Hawaii Izumo Taisha in
Honolulu was founded in 1906 when Rev. Katsuyoshi Miyao opened a temporary worship site on Aala Street near Aala Park on 26 September 1906. A temporary shrine building was completed on 25 August 1907. A permanent
shrine building was completed in 1922. By 1941, there were branches of Izumo Taishakyo operating in
Hilo,
Wailuku,
Waipahu,
Pearl City,
Honouliuli, Ewa Lower Camp,
Aiea, and
Kakaako. As of 2014, the Senge family of the had been the heads of the shrine for the last six generations since Senge Takatomi. Hitachi Izumo-taisha Shrine (formerly Izumo-taisha Hitachi Church) was a branch of Izumo Taisha Shrine located in Ibaraki Prefecture, however it has been a separate entity since 2013. ==Beliefs and doctrine==