A Shrine With A Sacred Tree of White Dragon in The Izu Peninsula

The upper photos are showing a shrine, Ikona-Hime-no-Mikoto Shrine, located in Shimoda-City, Shizuoka prefecture. The upper left hand side photo is a front building of the shrine and the main building is on the top of a hill beside the front building. According to a legend the shrine was originally established 2400 years ago, and the oldest record of this shrine has been found in a book written 1200 years ago.

The shrine buildings are not big but they have nice traditional structures. The buildings are decorated by old wood carvings as shown in the upper center photo. The photo shows a decorative carvings between beams and the image on the lower beam is a woman riding a Japanese dragon.

Same as dragons in other Asian countries, Japanese dragons have long body like a snake and four legs, but don't have wings although they surely can fly in the sky. The black arrow is pointing the head of the dragon in the photo, and it is a typical image of Japanese dragon's head. Having two horns on the head and the mouth is covered by beard.

Then, please look at the upper right hand side photo with the image of Japanese dragon. The tree in the photo is one of the shrine's sacred trees called "White Dragon". Because people thought the shape of the tree looks like a white dragon's head just broke the ground and came out to fly away to the sky.

The nature surroundings of the shrine are well preserved and Chinese Juniper trees and Phoenix trees in the hill which has the main shrine building on top are registered as a natural monument. The place has a very quiet and spiritual atmosphere. Besides, when people go out from the side of the shrine ground, there is a beautiful beach as shown in the lower left hand side photo.

On the top of a big rock on the beach, there is a small Torii-Gate built by the shrine. Torii-Gate is a Japanese Shinto style gate for gods. It is no problem, people can climb up the rock to visit the gate. At the gate, when they look down the see they can enjoy the beautiful sea water shown in the lower right hand side photo, and the transparency of the water may make them feel as if visiting some tropical islands.

Actually the shrine is usually called "Shirahama Shrine". Shirahama means "White Beach" in Japanese and it is the name of the beach beside the shrine. The beach is very popular spot for summer resort because of the beautiful white sand. However, I would say it is also a very nice place to visit during winter. You can enjoy the beautiful nature and traditional shrine with a sacred atmosphere without a crowd.