Gakuen-ji, the Shark Temple
A temple in Izumo clinging to the mountain, famous for its November maples, whose founding story features a healed empress and a shark returning a sacred object.
Easy walk
Benten Pond, the Torii Takes the Plunge
In Mizuguchi, Shiga Prefecture, a stone torii stands with its feet in the water among the lilies, facing an island no path reaches anymore. Behind it, four reservoirs draw the character for "heart" across the landscape.
Some hiking
Fushimi Hakuseki Inari, 50 Torii Under the Hydrangeas
In a valley of Yokosuka, more than fifty torii climb between cedars and hydrangeas. Fushimi Hakuseki Inari is the wild cousin of Kyoto's great shrine: damper, lonelier, almost absorbed by the mountain.
Easy walk
Fujisan Ryokan, the Night Stands Tall
At the end of a dark road in Iwate, Fujisan Ryokan in Namari Onsen and its bath deep enough to stand in. A night in a ryokan where everything grows upward.
Some hiking
Darumayama Kōgen, Fuji Filling the Frame
At Darumayama Kōgen, on the Izu Peninsula, an old volcano offers two sunsets at once: Fuji across Suruga Bay on one side, the Sagami Sea on the other. A walk to the summit.
Some hiking
Arato-jinja, Where the Woods Begin
At the end of a narrowing road, among the giant cedars of Niimi (Okayama), a torii, then a medieval shrine resting on stones. At Arato-jinja, the forest takes its time preparing the entrance.
Easy walk
Fukiya Furusato, the Red Mining Village
An old copper town perched at 550 metres in the mountains of Okayama, Fukiya still wears on every facade the red bengara pigment it once made. A walk through the reddest village in Japan.
Easy walk
Beppu Benten Pond, Blue Without a Filter
Cobalt water welling up beneath a shrine, an old man who appeared in a dream, and stones that turn red under the surface. At Beppu Benten Pond in Yamaguchi, geology makes the colour and Benzaiten collects the thanks.
Some hiking
Akame 48, Green in Cascade
Forty-eight waterfalls that are not really forty-eight, a god riding a red-eyed ox, ninjas and an amphibian that smells of pepper. At Akame, in the mountains of Mie, the forest streams as much as it tells stories.
