First of all, a littile bit about Togakushi Folk Tale.....
The god of Oku Sha is Ame-no-tajikarao.
In japan mythology and according to Kojiki(Records of Ancient Matters), the bad behavior of Susano’o, the Japanese god of storms, drove his sister Amaterasu into the Ama-no-Iwato cave. Because Amaterasu is the goddess of sun, the land of Japan was deprived of light. So other gods came up with the idea to have a party just in front of Ame-no-Iwato cave. Amaterasu grew curious about the source of amusement and peeked out of the cave entrance. Then, there was Ame-no-tajikarao who is the strongest of the gods and forced the door of the cave open. He threw the door of Ama-no-Iwato cave as hard as he could. The place where the the door was dropped at was Togakushi shrine, Oku Sha. So, that is why Togakushi literally means “hiding door”. When you check the distance between Ama-no-iwato shrine and Oku-sha(Togakushi shrine), Ama-no-iwato shrine is in Miyazaki prefecture and the distance is over 1,000 km. Ok, this is just mythology and It is totally up to you if you believe this or not. However, you can feel mystic, silent, refined, historical and mysterious beauty from the atmosphere of Togakushi shrine.
You will see why Togakushi shrine is one of the best spiritual places and as famous as Ise grand shrine and Izumo taisha.
Only a couple of hours from Tokyo, this sacred Togakushi Shinto-Shrine can easily be visited in a day trip. Togakushi shrine is like no other. Far from the usual tourist destination, Togakushi Shrine is a true hidden gem.
The Togakushi Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Nagano Prefecture, in Japan. Mt. Togakushi is where Togakushi shrine sits and it is in the National Park called Myoukou Togakushi Renzan National Park. Togakushi Shrine consists of five shrines in a large area and the distance between each shrines about 2km (1.25 miles) apart.
The Five Shrines are,
- Houkou Sha (lower shrine) dedicated to a patron goddess protecting maternity, academic and sewing
- Hino Miko Sha is dedicated to the god of fire and performing arts
- Chuu Sha (middle shrine) is dedicated to the god of wisdom
- Oku Sha (upper shrine) is dedicated to a God’s threw the door of Ame-no-iwato-cave.
- Kuzuryu Sha is dedicated to the god of rain and guardian deity of the Togakushi villages.
We begin our exploration of ancient pilgrimage trails at Togakushi, where a steep sometimes but not too long, such as going up the stairs to the shrines and hiking mountain path. We walk the old trails called “Togakushi Kodo” and you will see old Shinto statues and beautiful, great, spiritual cedars, line our route along the way to our destination of Okusha. We will visit each five shrines and also enjoy having Togakushi soba(Togakushi Soba is ranked in top 3 soba in Japan) for a lunch.
This is one of the best things to do in Nagano and If you are interested, book our………
