Mt. Shirataki and the 500 Arhats

📍 Mt. Shirataki and the 500 Arhats Mt. Shirataki, 226 meters above sea level, was originally a training ground for ascetic monks. It is said that in 1569, the 6th head of the Innoshima Murakami Navy, Murakami Shinzono Yoshimitsu, built the Kannon Hall as a lookout point for the Mekari Strait. In the late Edo period, Shigei's wealthy merchant Kashiwabara Denroku (1780-1828) founded the Ikkankyo sect based on the common ideals of the four major religions of Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity, which was banned at the time. He carved the 500 Arhats, a group of stone statues, together with his disciple Kashiwabara Rinzo and stonemasons from Onomichi, in an attempt to represent a pure world on Mt. Shirataki. The votive prayer was made in 1827, and it was completed three years later in 1830. However, on the way, Denroku was poisoned to death in 1828 by the Hiroshima Domain, fearing an uprising. Today, about 700 stone Buddha statues of various sizes are lined up in a small area from the Niomon Gate to the summit. From the observation deck at the summit, you can enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view of the Seto Inland Sea. #Free hotel stay