Urashimajinja Shrine

On the road from Ine to Cape Kyoga stands Urashima Shrine, the setting of the tale of Urashimako — Urashima Taro — as recorded in the Tango Fudoki, Japan's oldest surviving regional gazetteer. The shrine is said to have been founded in 825 in honour of the Urashima clan, local magnates of Tango at the time. It holds two Important Cultural Properties: an illustrated handscroll telling the Urashima story in fine detail, said to be the oldest version of the tale, and a kosode robe of Otohime patterned in the styles of the mid-Muromachi through Momoyama periods. A tortoiseshell-patterned comb box serves as the tale's jewelled casket. From the grounds you can see Mount Unryu, which appears in the old legend, and Nunobiki Falls, dropping from the summit like a bolt of white cloth unrolled.