Futarasan Shrine Chugushi was added to Your Favorites!
Nikko NP, Tochigi
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
In 1902, a typhoon-triggered collapse on Mt. Nantai swept the original Tachiki Kannon hall and its wooden statue into Lake Chuzenji. The image was later found on the opposite shore and enshrined at today’s Chuzenji Temple.
Each January 4, archers at Chugushi send arrows toward Mt. Akagi, reenacting a local legend in which Mt. Nantai’s deity defeated Akagi’s. The arrows are considered lucky, and visitors sometimes search for one to take home.
Excavations near the summit shrine yielded about 3,000 objects, from Buddhist ritual gear and mirrors to coins, tools, and pottery. A copper seal was the first of its kind found at a sacred ritual site.
For the 8-day summer Ascension Festival, July 31–August 7, worshippers may enter the inner sanctuary for special prayers before the sacred image—an exceptional rite described as Japan’s only one of its kind.
During the summer festival, conch shells and taiko announce the gate opening at midnight. Climbers then ascend sacred Mt. Nantai in darkness to reach its summit shrine for sunrise; the festival also brings local dancing and fireworks to the lakeshore.
The Chugushi treasure hall holds Nenekirimaru, an Important Cultural Property described in Nikko’s official interpretation as Japan’s longest sword. It is displayed among treasures connected to centuries of mountain worship.
Two yews in the shrine grounds are estimated at 1,100 and 1,000 years old. A broken branch only 34.5 cm across held about 310 growth rings, revealing how slowly the trees grew; they are Tochigi’s largest known yews.
Chugushi means “middle shrine”: tradition dates Shodo Shonin’s summit shrine to 782 and this lakeside sanctuary to 784, placing it between the sacred summit and Futarasan’s main shrine near town.
