Soto-jinja Shrine, also called Soto Gongen, is located in Shimoiwashita in Kasugai-cho, Fuefuki City. It is dedicated to the hot water god, and enshrines Sukunahiko no Mikoto and Yuyamanushi no Okami.
According to legend, today’s Kamiiwashita in Yamanashi City, where Iwashita Onsen Hot Springs is located, and Shimoiwashita in Kasugai-cho, Fuefuki City, where Soto-jinja is located, used to be a single village in the past. However, it separated horizontally into upper and lower halves, and the two villages repeatedly fought over Soto-jinja Shrine, which they regarded as their tutelary shrine.
The shrine was relocated a number of times between Shimoiwashita and Kamiiwashita, but it was transferred to its present location in 1766 in the late Edo Period (1603-1868) where it stands today. Note, however, that there is a shrine of the same name also in Kamiiwashita, Yamanashi City.