Kagawa｜Asahisha, where a wish for a day's prayer came true, an important cultural property of Japan that took 40 years to complete

Kotohira-gu Shrine, which was called "a place that must be visited once in a lifetime" by the ancients, has many attractions worth seeing. On the way down the mountain, you will encounter Asahisha. This temple was built during the Tenpo period. It is a two-story rumo-zukuri building with copper tiles and an exquisite wooden structure. It took the craftsmen a full 40 years to complete it. Before the decree to separate gods and Buddhas, this was the Golden Hall of Matsuoji Temple, where Konpila was enshrined. Now the statue has been moved to Okayama Nishidaiji Temple for worship. There are two large vats outside Asahi Shrine. This is a one-yen jade water bottle with a floating wish leaf. According to legend, as long as you put one yen on the water and it floats without sinking, your wish will come true. In Japanese Shintoism, there is a custom of offering sacrifices to the gods. In the past, samurai would offer sacrifices to the gods when they prayed for victory, while at the Kifune Shrine in Kyoto, sacrifices were made when they prayed for rain. Nowadays, most shrines have statues instead of horses, but at Kotohira-gu Shrine, there are two real horses enshrined here, Tsukikoto and Ruchie. Because praying for safety at sea has been quite effective since ancient times, there are stone tablets with offerings next to the more than 1,000 stone steps, and a whole row of them are for one million yen. The time was around Showa 50, when the average annual income was about 440,000 yen, which shows how generous the believers were. There is also a shipbuilding company that directly donated a cargo ship screw unit weighing 19 tons, which is made of metal and is of extraordinary value. 📍Address: 〒766-0001 892-1 Kotohira-cho, Nakatado-gun, Kagawa Prefecture 🚗JR Kotohira Station or Kotoden Kotohira Station, walk for ten minutes to reach the entrance of the mountain, and climb 628 steps to reach Asahisha #AprilGoodDestinations2025