A road that keeps narrowing, a torii lost among giant cedars and a medieval shrine resting on stones… At Arato-jinja, the forest takes its time preparing the entrance.
The torii is only the beginning
Arato-jinja hides in the mountains of Niimi, in the northwest of Okayama Prefecture. The last kilometres follow a narrow road, then the shrine appears at the foot of Mount Arato. Its name is said to mean “the entrance to the mountain village”, which is hard to beat for accuracy. A stone torii cuts across the path, surrounded by cedars more than 150 years old. Behind it, the steps carry on between the trunks. The gate does not announce your arrival: it only gives you permission to climb.
Light slides across the path in strips, the stone walls vanish under the plants, and the building stays hidden until the very last steps. Here the sandō, the approach to the shrine, easily steals the show from the shrine itself.
A sea god in the mountains
Mount Arato looms over the area with the shape of an upturned pot. Nicknamed Atetsu Fuji, it is what remains of a volcano that erupted more than two million years ago. Near the summit, the basalt still forms five- and six-sided columns.
At its foot, Arato-jinja honours Ōwatatsumi no Mikoto, a god of the sea, alongside Amaterasu and sixteen other kami. A sea god settled deep in the mountains, on the slopes of an old volcano: the local cast likes contrast. Here, Ōwatatsumi is mostly linked to water, the water that runs down from the heights before joining the rivers.
Middle Ages, no pedestal
According to tradition, the shrine was founded in 1324 on top of Mount Arato. Destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt where it stands today in 1444. Its honden, the hall reserved for the deity, keeps its Muromachi-period architecture and is now protected as a cultural property of Okayama Prefecture. Its cypress-bark roof lacks the projecting porch found on many shrines. Under the floor there is no tall base: the building rests on a bed of stones, an old technique that has become rare. A roof, some wood, a few rocks. And six centuries still standing.
Moss stands guard
Around the hall, the outbuildings stay simple, almost domestic. A komainu worn by the rain keeps watch between the trees, round-eyed, mouth half open, its body covered in lichen. It looks less like a fearsome lion than a creature caught by surprise in the middle of its shift. In the end Arato-jinja comes down to very little: a long path, a stone torii, a medieval roof and a tired guardian. The shrine laid the foundations. Since then, the forest has quietly carried on the work.
More of secret Okayama on Manabe-shima, Florian Chavouet’s island. For another forest that prepares a shrine’s entrance, Heisenji, full moss jacket. And the red facades of Fukiya, the red mining village. Getting there: Niimi city ↗.
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