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Daisen-Oki NP, Tottori
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The temple’s legend begins with 3 lotus petals tossed by En no Gyōja toward sacred places; one fell on Mt. Mitoku. It says he shrank a hall and flung it into the cliff cave—hence Nageiredo, “Throw-in Hall.”
Today the hall looks like bare timber, but conservation researchers found traces of red paint on old timbers and signs that pierced metal ornaments once decorated the rafter ends. Its original look was far less plain.
The 706 date belongs to Mt. Mitoku’s founding legend, not this hall: 2001 tree-ring dating placed Nageiredo in the late Heian period (1086–1184) and found nearby Nōkyōdo dates from the same era.
At Mt. Mitoku, ritual cleansing included the palate: pilgrims ate vegetarian shōjin meals, including the local Mitoku tofu. Nearby Rinkōin, a dining stop for Tottori lords, still serves tofu and tochimochi rice cakes.
At the cliff, hard andesite overlies softer tuff breccia. Erosion at that rock boundary undercut the face, creating the overhang and cave-like niche where Nageiredo was built.
Mt. Mitoku’s forest shifts continuously from evergreen oak to deciduous beech; beech appears from about 400 m here, compared with about 700 m on nearby Daisen. This unusual forest surrounds the mountain sanctuary.
Nageiredo’s floor hangs on long pillars within the cliffside recess. Above it, a shrine-style roof combines side and corner eaves with cypress-bark shingles; exactly how the builders assembled it remains a mystery.
Nageiredo was once formally called Zaō-den, for the deity worshiped there. Its National Treasure designation also covers the adjacent Aizen Hall, a tablet recording roof repairs in 1375, and 43 timbers removed during a later repair.
Mt. Mitoku’s Miyuki procession was revived in 2006 after about 50 years. At its 2023 outing, roughly 200 marchers carried portable shrines through the area, accompanied by lion dancing and court music—a living tradition of Gongen worship.
