Ojiro Shrine
Ojiro Shrine enshrines Amaterasu Omikami (Sun Goddess). It has a 99m2 pond surrounded by evergreen trees in the shrine grounds. This pond is called a pond for rain as legend has it that cleaning this pond always made rain happen when people suffered from a shortage of water for paddy fields due to a drought in summer. There are several tens of old cedar trees 3m in diameter and 40m in height by the mountaintop shrine, which are designated as national mother trees. It is said that among them, a notable old cedar tree with twin trunks, which is called tomyo sugi, is a tree where a divine spirit lives. The area surrounding the shrine has a primeval forest embracing a wide variety of trees such as a mix of twin-trunk cedar trees and miscellaneous small trees. The area is also known as a habitat of forest green treefrogs. The shrine holds its festival every year on May 3, where a wide variety of events are held such as small and large portable shrines’ parade and shrine parishioners’ throwing of rice cake to an assembled crowd, which gather many visitors.
