Ōmiwa Jinja

photo by Shift · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by alonfloc · CC BY 3.0

It has no hall of worship: you pray towards Mount Miwa through a triple torii.

Worshippers stop in front of a triple torii (the typical gateway of Shinto shrines, here with three arches joined together, called mitsu-torii and rebuilt in 1883 on four pillars) and pray not towards a building but directly towards Mount Miwa behind it, which here is the deity itself: the shrine has no honden, the hall that elsewhere houses the divine body.

Ōmiwa Jinja is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan: Mount Miwa behind it is revered as the very body of the deity, and for this reason the shrine has no honden, the building that elsewhere houses the sacred symbol. The main entrance is marked by a triple torii, the mitsu-torii, rebuilt in 1883 on a four-pillar structure.

ℹ️ To actually climb Mount Miwa you must pay a fee at the shrine's reception, wear the white sash (tasuki) handed out there, and observe the ban on taking photographs and eating along the route.

🚉 Miwa · 8 min walk

Sources: oomiwa.or.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

All series · Open the map