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Chichibu-Tama-Kai NP, Tokyo
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Each January 3 before dawn, priests heat a stag’s shoulder blade and read its cracks to forecast 25 crops. The rite is private; Musashi Mitake Shrine says only 2 Japanese shrines still preserve it.
Local legend says a white wolf guided Yamato Takeru to safety on Mitake. The wolf became Ōguchi Magami, guardian against crop pests and disaster; today, its shrine draws worshippers with dogs.
At Mitake’s shukubo, hosts grow much of their own produce and make sashimi-style konnyaku from scratch—each inn has its own twist. Rice, sake and vegetables offered first at the shrine are later shared with guests.
A Mitake pilgrimage once doubled as an agricultural exchange: representatives from village prayer groups brought rice varieties that resisted drought, typhoons or pests to share with fellow pilgrims.
The shrine’s roughly 26-kilogram red-laced armor is considered Japan’s oldest complete ō-yoroi suit. Shrine tradition says warrior Hatakeyama Shigetada dedicated it in 1191.
The armor’s original, late-Heian red lacing still looks vivid, while red replacement cords added during a 1903 repair have faded. The shrine preserves both in one remarkable color comparison.
Fujimine Garden’s roughly 50,000 renge-shoma plants form the largest colony in the Kanto region. The Japanese-native flowers are protected by a fence because local deer like to eat them.
Mount Mitake’s onshi—shrine priests who guide and host worshippers—still travel to believers’ homes in autumn and winter to deliver amulets. In spring, pilgrimage groups continue to climb the mountain.
Mitake’s Daidai Kagura is a prayer offered facing the gods, not a stage show: 31 hereditary shrine families preserve 16 dances, with traditions traced to 1749 and around 1780.
At the Hinode Festival, around 100 people escort a mikoshi, armor-clad warriors and children up more than 300 stone steps, passing through Mitake’s historic onshi settlement on the way to the shrine.
The Jindai Zelkova on the shrine approach stands about 30 meters tall and more than 8 meters around. This monumental tree has been a national natural monument since 1928.
In December and January, Mitake’s “ice flowers” appear on stems of Kameba-hikiokoshi, a mint-family plant. They are frozen formations rather than blossoms—and some can reach about 40 centimeters.
The torii and sacred rope at Ayahiro Falls mark more than a scenic stop: priests and pilgrims practice takigyō, purification beneath the water. Local shukubo can arrange guided sessions.
In 736, an image of Zaō Gongen helped make Mitake a center of Zaō faith in eastern Japan. The shrine’s name later changed from Mitake Zaō Gongen in 1874 to Musashi Mitake Shrine in 1952.
In just 6 minutes, the Mitake cable car climbs to 831 meters on an average 22° slope, reaching 25° at its steepest. Its operator calls it the steepest cable-car route in Kanto.
