Kinomiya Shrine — Attraction in Atami

Surprisingly fun!

I was surprised that there were bunch of places to take photos and kill some time. To make things better, they have stands for you to place your phone and take a photo. Although the stand is placed a little further than you probably want, but you get wide shot of the background (which is I guess you want).

Most impressive was this big tree that is in the middle of the area. Not the biggest tree I have seen, especially since I come from Canada, but big for Japan. There is a cafe and a place to buy some food, so you can definitely hang out here for a bit. You can probably kill an hour here, but can spend a little more if you decide to hang out at the cafe.

They have parking and I didn't pay for anything, but I did have to wait since it is not a big parking area. I was told to go to the third parking area, but it wasn't far...

One of the loveliest shrines I know. The shrine is for a camphor tree that is over 2 thousand years old. The tree is beautiful and people say for everytime you walk around it you will add a year to your life. The entire shrine is vibrant and well kept. There are many photo opportunities. This shrine has shrine maidens who sometimes dance with fans in from of the tree. When I was there I also hear lots of beautiful traditional music being played by the shrine attendants. There are also some nice areas with orange tori gates that are great for pictures. At night the area around the tree was lit with lantetns and I half expected to see the spirits if the forest come out of hiding to enjoy the beauty of the scene. I would definitely add this to my trip while visiting Atami. There was also an impressive amount of information...

Tranquil temple filled with lush greenery that provided a cool refuge from the summer heat. The sounds of the nearby waterfall added to the serene ambience of the temple.

The highlight of the temple is the ancient camphor tree which is said to add a year to your lifespan each time you circle it. What I feel the temple done weel was the inclusion of phone stands that allow visitors to take pictures at photo spots such as the camphor tree. Surprisingly, there are quite a number of modern minimalist structures in the temple, such as the cafe right by the main shrine.

The temple is free to enter and was not very crowded on a late weekday afternoon...