Top 20 Caves 일본

Visitors to the river valley and cave are warned of poisonous snakes.

The karst cave is a place of remembrance with a very tragic history. During the Battle of Okinawa, more than a hundred people hid in the cave. Chibi Chirigama was cut off from the outside world, and those inside experienced extreme isolation, feeling like they were the only ones still alive. The civilians in the cave were driven to mass suicide by coercion and orders from the Japanese military. Chibi Chirigama is a symbol of the suffering inflicted on the people of Okinawa by the Japanese military during the Battle of Okinawa.

access along trekking route 6

The Gyokosendo Cave is part of Okinawa World. Here you can also visit a small botanical garden or have your photo taken with a live constrictor snake. You can even buy snake liquor. The cave itself supposedly has the most stalagmites of any cave in Japan.

Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine was founded in 1185 by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. Legend has it that Yoritomo had a dream in which a god told him to find a sacred spring in Kamakura. He discovered the spring and built the shrine to Benzaiten, the goddess of wealth, music, and eloquence. Zeniarai Benzaiten is famous for its ritual of money laundering at the sacred spring. It is believed that money laundered here will multiply and bring prosperity. Visitors often come to the shrine to purify their money and pray for financial success. Money laundered at Zeniarai Benzaiten is believed to increase financial prosperity, and it is considered even more auspicious to spend the money rather than save it. It is believed that by spending the money, wealth will circulate and lead to even greater prosperity. In addition, if you are lucky enough to see a white snake, which is the messenger of Benzaiten, on the shrine grounds, your luck is said to be even greater.

The Jochiji Temple is one of the five largest temples in Kamakura. There are temples, two cemeteries, residential buildings with gardens and a bell tower. The complex is well worth seeing and well maintained. In a small cave in the lower cemetery there is a statue of the god of luck. Some people stroke the belly of the god of luck, which is supposed to bring good luck.

The Zeniarai Benten shrine can be reached via a cave on the side of the road. There are a few stalls where you can buy food and incense candles. Some people wash money in a small spring inside a temple. The money washed there is said to bring good luck and increase. It should then only be spent on something very special.

It is really impressive how ice-cold air flows out of the cave and a little fog forms.