VIDEO: Japan's Takayama Inari Shrine, a power spot worth exploring near Misawa AB

Takayama Inari Shrine (Photos by Yoshihito Morita)

If you live near Misawa Air Base and travel to Kyoto is not on the itinerary this year, you don’t need to travel too far to enjoy a shrine similar to the old capital’s famous Fushimi Inari Shrine. Every year thousands of visitors head to the shrine in Kyoto to get a closer look at the stunning sight of lush forest and mountains with a path covered in bright orange torii gates.

About a 2.5-hour drive from Misawa, you can visit Takayama Inari in Tsugaru City. The shrine is dedicated to the same god as the one in Kyoto. This location is also considered to be a power spot, which are shrines or temples Japanese people hold in high regard as places where their wishes are more likely to be granted and where you’ll find an abundance of healing energy.

Take a walk under the 202 gates which stand at 6’6-feet-high and are believed to ward off evil, illness and bad luck. Once on the grounds of the shrine, you’ll find many fox statues as the fox is the familiar spirit of the Inari God.

Climb to the top of the hilly path and be rewarded with a wonderful view of the shrine grounds and surrounding landscape. This is also a good place to get a view of the autumn leaves, so make plans to head to this power spot soon as it offers a familiar sight without the travel time required to go to Kyoto!

(Takayama Inari Shrine)

Takayama Inari Shrine

Address: 147-1 Washinosawa, Ushiga Town, Tsugaru City, Aomori Prefecture (a 2.5-hour drive from Misawa AB)
TEL: 0173-56-2015
Website

Kushihiki Hachimangu is about a 40-minute drive from Misawa Air Base and is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in the region.

This Hachinohe City shrine is a popular tourist attraction and features unique architecture offset by the impressive cedar trees that surround it.

Kushihiki Hachimangu is over 800 years old and has been the center of faith in the region for centuries. As such, this shrine is considered a power spot which draws many near and far to seek good fortune in business, competition and for safe births.

The main shrine hall built by local feudal lord Mitsuyuki Nanbu in 1648 is designated national important cultural prosperity as the building is considered a valuable example of the early-Edo style shrine architecture. The shrine treasure hall is also home to 25 precious samurai armors, two of which— the Akaito-Odoshi Yoroi (armor laced with red threads) and Shiroito-Odoshi Tsumadori Yoroi (armor laced with white triangular-patterned thread)— are designated as national treasures. Visitors are allowed to try on a suit of armor.

On the grounds, you may recognize western architecture on one building which stands apart from the surrounding buildings. This building is the Meiji Memorial Hall, one of the oldest of its kind in Aomori Prefecture. The hall was a school auditorium built in 1881 and the Meiji Emperor (grandfather of current Emperor Naruhito) stayed in the building when he toured northern part of Japan in the same year. This building was not originally at this location but was moved here to commemorate the Emperor’s visit to go along a statue of his likeness in 1962.