Kibitsu Shrine

What is there

Kibitsu Shrine is the old first shrine of Bitchū province, and its main hall of 1425, a national treasure, is built in a style found nowhere else, with two great roofs joined over one hall. A roofed corridor nearly four hundred metres long runs down the hillside from the hall to the lower buildings, and partway along it stands the Okamaden, the kettle hall, where a rite of divination is performed: water is boiled in an iron kettle and the sound it makes is read as the answer. The shrine is ten minutes on foot from a small station on the Kibi line.

Why here

Ura, the oni of the fortress on the hill to the north, raided the plain until Prince Kibitsuhiko, sent from the court, fought him across the rivers and cut off his head; the head went on howling for years, until it was buried under the kettle and agreed to speak only through its rumble. The tale is the root of the children’s story of the peach boy, and the shrine is where the oni’s voice is still consulted.

Yokai you will meet

• Oni 鬼 — The head of Ura under the kettle hall, consulted through the rumble of the boiling water.

Getting there

Kibitsu Station (JR Kibi Line). About ten minutes on foot.

• Open in Google Maps (external link)
• Open in OpenStreetMap (external link)
• Official site (external link)