三仏寺投入堂

About this photo

This photo shows Nageiredo, the inner hall of Sanbutsuji on Mount Mitoku in Misasa, Tottori. It appears in Tetsudo Ryoko Annai (Railway Travel Guide), published by the government's Railway Agency in 1914 (Taisho 3).

Sanbutsuji is said to have been founded in 706 by En no Gyoja as a training ground for Shugendo, a tradition of mountain asceticism. Nageiredo is a hall built as if fitted into a hollow in a sheer cliff, and its name, "the thrown-in hall," comes from a legend that En no Gyoja threw the hall into place with his spiritual powers. Tree-ring dating of its timbers in fiscal 2001 and 2002 showed that it was likely built around the end of the 11th century, in the late Heian period.

Nageiredo was designated a National Treasure in 1952, and in 2015 it also became part of a Japan Heritage story. Visitors cannot go inside, but they can climb a steep ascetics' trail from behind the main hall to see it up close and pay their respects. Climbing alone is not allowed, and climbers need to be properly equipped for a mountain hike.

Glossary