Egara Tenjinsha shrine is built at the top of a steep staircase

Surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on the other, many shrines and temples in Kamakura are built on mountainsides. Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, which is a symbol of Kamakura, is built on a steep stone staircase, and Kencho-ji Temple and Engaku-ji Temple, the first and second largest temples in the Kamakura Gozan, respectively, are both located in the mountains. Egara Tenjinsha Shrine, which I came to, is similarly situated on a small hill. The shrine is built on the stairs at the end of a gravel path. Standing at the bottom and looking up, the stairway leading to the shrine was so steep that one might believe it to be an entrance to another world.

However, for a stairway leading to another world, many people were going up and down the stairway. From the looks of it, it seems that the other world is a frank place than I thought. Thinking so, I joined the crowd and climbed the stairs, only to find a simple worship hall at the top of the gate. I was a bit disappointed, as I was expecting something majestic, and I had to immediately think of a way to calm my rising spirits as I climbed the stairs.

Incidentally, Egara Tenjinsha Shrine has a long history. It is said that Minamoto no Yoritomo built the shrine as a guardian shrine in the direction of the devil's gate when he opened the Kamakura shogunate, making it a shrine with a history of more than 1,100 years.

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