”Choishimichiwalk”…..4　

Stone marker 136 at “Roppon sugi”  which means six cedars. There were never six cedars, but a row of the Japanese cedars probably gave its name to this locality. The path continues gently up and down from “Roppon sugi” to stone marker 120 with the “Futatsu torii”, the two gates. From “Roppon sugi” a side path leads to Amano village l,3 km away, where you can worship the shrine of Niutsuhime, the shrine dedicated to the princess Niu. From the shrine the “hacho” path leads back again to the stone marker path.

Amano village is the village of fireflies, the village of the Tales of Heike……this way

Stone marker 136 “Roppon sugi”

At the end of the “Hacho” gradient the two gates “Futatsu torii”

Niutsuhime Shrine

The two gates “Futatsu Torii”

Stone marker 120 close to “Futatsu torii”

In the Heian period (794-1185 A.D.) Koya worshipping became very popular

and it seems that from the two gates on, the area was declared to be a sanctuary. Probably the two gates became the sign of the frontier of the sacred earth for worshipping Buddhas. When people continued to climb up the path they recited sutras in a moderate voice in front of each stone marker. Around the  beginning of the Edo period the wooden gates were replaced with stone gates allegedly sponsored by the priest of the Fudaraku temple who spent his own whole property.The gilded dedication frame fixed on the middle of the perches of the big gate on the west side of the torii reflected a sun beam at dusk which fishermen complained made fishing in Wakaura Bay difficult according to the records “Katsuragi ima mukashi banashi” (The tales of today and the past).

In 1649 A.D. May, the wooden gates were replaced with stone gates.

On the stone marker 120 the following inscriptions are engraved;on the right face: “l20 cho shamon Ryoshin”(120 cho, Monk Ryoshin), on the right side a dedication “for father, mother” and on the left side “Bunei 7, 2^nd month”(l260 A.D. February).