Yudono-san Shrine

photo by Geomr · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by Hiroaki Kaneko · CC BY-SA 3.0

It has no building: the deity is a warm rock from which water springs, and it cannot be photographed.

The shrine has no honden: the divine body is a large reddish-brown rock from which hot water springs, and worshippers reach it barefoot along a path of earth and stone after receiving a purification. The oldest rule of the place is ‘語るなかれ、聞くなかれ’ (do not speak of it, do not ask about it), and it still applies today: photographing inside the sacred grounds is forbidden without exception. It is the okunoin, the most remote and secret shrine of the three Dewa mountains (Haguro, Gassan, Yudono).

The third and most secret of the Dewa Sanzan shrines, in the municipality of Tsuruoka, a destination of the ‘rebirth’ pilgrimage together with Haguro-san and Gassan.

ℹ️ Open only from 1 June to early November because of the snow. Entry offering 500 yen for junior high students and above, free for elementary school children. About 30 minutes by car from the Gassan interchange on the Yamagata Expressway, or 40 from Shōnai-Asahi; 150 parking spaces.

🚉 湯殿山本宮 · 2 min walk

Sources: 4travel.jp · asoblock.net · ana.co.jp

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