Hosonojinja Shrine

Hosono Shrine stands close enough to the Kizu River that you half expect to hear it. Tradition holds that it began in the Nara period, when the Kasuga deity was invited here to pacify a malevolent spirit said to have taken up residence in the Hahaso woods. The Igomori festival, held over three days from the first day of the monkey in the new year, is likewise said to have begun as a rite of appeasement — great torches blaze up and burn back the dark.