Ōiwa Shrine — Attraction in Kyoto

It was quite the walk from JR Fujinomori station to the entrance of the shrine (approx 23 mins and another 20 minutes) to get to the shrine. There is a kids nature camp to the left after you walk past the first Tori gate.

As you keep walking, you enter a bamboo grove. The bamboo swaying in the wind knocking against each other with the leaves rustling in the wind made a unique sound. I also got goosebumps from the sensation!

As you reach the white dragon princess pond, you would start noticing mosquitos so please bring mosquito repellent. They were quite big and aggressive, I got so many bite marks.

After the pond, you will reach the many red tori gates with one of the stone tori gate being Domoto Insho’s artwork. As you keep hiking up the mountain, you would notice more mini shrines before you reach the big main shrine (opposite from the path towards the summit of the mountain).

There were cats being quite vocal inside the dilapidated house beside the main shrine. The cat sounded very cute and gentle.

Behind the main shrine is a set of stairs with the second stone gate (also created and donated by Domoto Insho). As you keep walking down, it will be another entrance/exit to the shrine and a long road for cars.

I would recommend bringing proper footwear and bug repellent since the place is not maintained compared to the shrines nearby. The stone paths and stairs are quite uneven and broken so tread carefully!

Overall, it was a great experience and I would visit again.

Kind sad to hear that the shrine is in its current state because of a lack of funding. Some locals say it’s haunted and avoid going at...

A magnificent site far from the mass tourist centres, it is well worth a visit for its mystical and intriguing atmosphere. It has been abandoned a few years ago, especially after a typhoon caused serious damages, particularly to the main building and Shinto gates known as “torii 鳥居”.

Perhaps two Shinto gates will especially arouse your interest and raise questions within you, after searching online I did find out that these beautiful decorated gates almost out of place were actually donated and offered to this shrine by an artist of Kyoto, named Domoto Insho in 1952 and the other one in 1963, which is why they are quite “new” a vibrant contrast between those two and the others.

A deity worshipped in this shrine is actually for healing serious illness, I have yet to find the exact name of this Shinto deity.

Enjoy your little hike on the outskirts of Kyoto while visiting this place and please be respectful towards this site, as everything is remains from the past, and so precious memories lies...

Der Ort hat was, etwas mystisches. Das Granittor sieht leider im Original nicht so toll aus, wie auf den Fotos. Ich bin mit dem Fahrrad über die Straße rauf gegangen. Muss man meistens schieben, weil es steil ist. Der Wald wäre schön, wenn da nicht so viel illegal entsorgter Müll rumliegen würde. Es gibt Schilder, die von Schulkindern gemalt wurden und die dazu aufrufen keinen Müll zu entsorgen. Leider sind diese Schilder auch schon zu Müll geworden. Es gibt wohl auch einen Fußweg, der ein bisschen westlich beginnt. Vielleicht die bessere Alternative - obwohl, mit dem Fahrrad runter hat Spaß gemacht. Der Schrein selber ist ziemlich verwahrlost. Es gibt offensichtlich auch neue Gräber, aber die Geister der Verstorbenen räumen nicht auf, und die Lebenden auch nicht. Ein Tipp für Katzenfreunde:...