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Yoshino Kumano NP, Mie
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At the right alignment, the rising sun seems to settle in the lion’s open jaws; in another season, a full moon can appear there too. Kumano’s official guide describes both sights.
Local tradition makes Shishiiwa a natural guardian lion: its open mouth is “A,” paired with nearby Shinsen-do’s closed-mouth “Un.” Together they guard Ouma Shrine upstream, which has no carved komainu.
A 19th-century traveler’s guidebook already singled out lion-shaped Shishiiwa and nearby Onigajo together as a rare scenic view along the Kumano pilgrimage route.
Shishiiwa stands 25m tall and measures 210m around. Its quartz-trachyte face also preserves erosion marks above today’s shore—a clue that the land rose after waves had carved it.
