Togakushi Jinja (Okusha) 戸隠神社奥社
The last 500 metres run between 200 cedars that are 250 years old, the widest 2.27 metres across.
The fifth and innermost of the Togakushi shrines (after Hōkōsha, Kuzuryūsha, Chūsha and Hinomikosha), it was traditionally a centre of shugendō, the ascetic syncretism of Buddhism and mountain worship, before the forced separation of Buddhism and Shinto in 1868. The forest around it, with cedars, elms, lime trees, beeches and horse chestnuts over about 50 hectares (154,000 tsubo according to the shrine's source), has been a Natural Monument of Nagano Prefecture since 1973; visitors are asked to stay on the path and not to trample the undergrowth.
Nagano
戸隠奥社入口
