Cultural Assets－Sutra Mounds

Three different places have been posited as the true location of sutra mound #23. One is a five-ringed pagoda on old temple grounds in Kujira, Gose. On the same site is a stone marker with Edo Period (1603 to 1867) engravings stating that it is a sutra mound. The second posited location of sutra mound #23 is a giant boulder onto which six images of the Buddhist deity Jizo are carved. This boulder is also located in Kujira. The third posited location is at a temple on Mount Yamato-Katsuragi, which no longer exists. This temple is believed to have been one of the places where En no Gyoja did his ascetic training. Though the temple complex is long gone, the area is dotted with Shugendo training sites like Kujira Waterfall and Fudo Waterfall.