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Sanriku Fukkō NP, Miyagi
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Japan’s first recorded gold, sent to Nara in 749 for the Great Buddha, came from present-day Wakuya—not Kinkasan. Shrine tradition says local leaders founded this island sanctuary to celebrate.
As bonito boats from Mie and Wakayama approached Sanriku, first-time young cooks reportedly got toothpaste painted on their faces and danced with a rice paddle and soup ladle while the vessel circled Kinkasan.
In 1983, a stone to the Eight Dragon Kings was found underwater, prompting the revival of a festival long lost since the Meiji era. At Kinkasan’s Dragon Festival, 10 performers maneuver a 20-meter, 100-kilogram dragon.
Historical accounts say saury boats returning to port offered 7 fish to Kinkasan by casting them into the sea, praying for a good catch. To fishers, the island was both a sacred landmark and a sea deity.
A local saying promises that anyone who visits Koganeyama Shrine 3 years in a row will never lack money for life. It’s a bold, memorable reward for a pilgrimage.
Linked to Benzaiten’s snake messenger, Hatsu-mi runs 7 days from the first Snake Day of lunar month 4, now in May. Its Sunday procession carries a mikoshi from shrine to pier, followed by children and the Seven Lucky Gods.
Until 1869, women were barred from entering Kinkasan. They worshipped from Oshika Peninsula at the first torii on Yamadori-mine, a mainland threshold directly facing the sacred island.
For centuries, Kinkasan’s religious center was Daikinji, a Shingon Buddhist temple venerating Benzaiten. The island was one of Japan’s 5 great Benzaiten sacred sites before the shrine returned to Shinto in 1869.
A pilgrimage once required two nights: first at an Oshika Peninsula inn, then on Kinkasan itself. The overnight custom continues, and shrine guests can join the priests’ first-morning fire prayer.
The shrine’s deer are protected as divine messengers, but autumn rutting stags can injure visitors. Since 1963, about 15 are caught yearly for an antler-cutting rite shared in Japan only with Nara.
