S P O T ／ SPOT-254

Aominesan Shofukuji

青峯山正福寺あおみねさん しょうふくじ

Perched near the 336-meter summit of Mt. Aomine, this head temple of the Koyasan Shingon school enshrines an Eleven-faced Kannon and has, for centuries, drawn fervent devotion from fishermen and seafarers—not only around Ise-Shima and Ise Bay but from Hokkaido to Kyushu. A belief that "those who worship at Aomine are spared from storms" spread far and wide; legend tells of a golden Buddha that appeared riding on the back of a whale from the sea off Osatsu, with a "whale stone" said to be its petrified remains. The temple's great event is the Ofuna Matsuri on the 18th day of the first lunar month, when hundreds of brilliantly colored fishing flags dedicated by boats across Japan fill the precincts—a spectacle that turns a deep-mountain temple into something resembling a bustling harbor. Cultural relics such as the Great Gate (1830) and a seven-meter stone perpetual light (1837) attest to the prosperity of the shipping trade at its height.