Visit duration: 60 minutes

Mt. Kinpu

Located on the boundary between Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures, Mt. Kinpu is a famous peak in the Okuchichibu Mountain Range with an elevation of 2,599 m. Mt. Kinpu has been called Koshu Mitake-san since ancient times, a custom that is thought to have begun when En no Ozunu, the founder of shugendo, prayed for the coming of Zao Gongen from Mt. Kinpusen in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture to Mt. Kinpu.

Gojoiwa

A gigantic granite boulder (around 15 m high), Gojoiwa is the symbol of Kinpusan (Mt. Kinpu) worship. From Gojoiwa’s peak gushes a spring called Kaihami, which was the headspring of rivers that flowed through the ancient provinces of Kai, Musashi, and Sinano. For this reason, the deities enshrined in Mt. Kinpu are worshipped as guardian deities of farming.

Visit duration: 20 minutes

Kanazakura-jinja Shrine/Mitake Dosojin

Situated at the end of the long climb up Shosenkyo Gorge, the Kanazakura-jinja Shrine is dedicated to Mt. Kinpu (the shrine’s object of worship, believed to contain the spirit of a deity). The shrine was built around 1500 years ago after an epidemic spread throughout the country to worship the gods in each domain and pray for the eradication of pestilence and the good health of all. Even today, worshippers come to pray to the shrine’s sacred Ukon-no-Sakura for luck and prosperity, and it is known as the “Kanazakura Money Tree.”
As a deity that provides protection not only against the advent of calamities, but also for children’s healthy growth and blessings for fertility, Dosojin is a folk religion deity that is widely worshiped throughout Japan.