Kinomiya Shrine

photo by Batholith · Public domain

photo by Batholith · Public domain

A camphor tree over 2,000 years old, 24 m in circumference: a natural monument since 1933.

In the shrine courtyard grows a camphor tree (kusunoki, a large evergreen tree) about 20 metres tall, with a trunk about 24 metres in circumference and an estimated age of over two thousand years, now partly dead. A path lets you walk round it: local legend has it that going round once adds a year to your life, and that a wish kept silent during the walk comes true.

The sacred camphor tree has been a national natural monument since 1933. According to the shrine's tradition, during the Kaei era (1848–1854) a woodcutter tried to fell it: an old man with white hair appeared and stopped the saw, which broke in two, and then vanished; since then the tree has never been touched. The shrine is about three minutes on foot from JR Kinomiya Station, and holds an evening illumination of the woods (‘Kodama Project’) from 17:00 to 23:00.

ℹ️ Open 9:00–17:00; requests for rites accepted until 16:30. Different hours over the New Year period (30/12–4/1). Tel. 0557-82-2241.

🚉 Kinomiya · 4 min walk

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

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