Ushioyama Jinja Shrine

Ushioyama Jinja is dedicated to Futsunushi no Mikoto, the Shinto deity of swords. An enormous ginkgo tree in the precincts turns bright yellow each autumn, its fallen leaves forming a golden carpet around the shrine. A stone sutra mound erected by a Hachinohe retainer stands near the sanctuary, one of fifteen such monuments found in the area. Inside a pavilion near a stream, visitors can try a fortune-telling ritual: place a coin on paper and float it on the water. If it sinks, the wish is said to come true. The path beyond the shrine continues uphill past the former site of a five-tiered pagoda to Tomyodo Temple.