ABSTRACT
The path upwards through the grounds of Kotohira Shrine (still often colloquially called by the friendlier nickname Konpira-san or “Mr. Konpira”) is notorious for its imposition on visitants – 785 steps, say most sources, but the official guidebook argues there are 786 steps upward to the Main Shrine, but also one downward step at the point where shops yield to sacred. The number “786” can be linked phoneti-
cally to nayamu – the Japanese word for “suffering” – so convention is to subtract that one downward step, leaving 785.2
The long, winding route up the steep mountain leads into a dark, leafy forest near the top, then out onto a bright plateau 251 meters (nearly 825 feet) above sea level, with a magnificent view of the town at the mountain’s base and the Inland Sea beyond.3 Fewer and fewer climb these steps each year. Unlike the far better known poles of Ise or Izumo, Kotohira is rarely studied by architectural academics and seldom recommended to foreign tourists. Not so long ago, however, it was “… one of the most popular destinations of the nineteenth century, compared by writers of the time even to the shrine of Amaterasu at Ise.”4
