空印寺（八百比丘尼入定洞） · Shrine or temple · Obama, Fukui
Kūinji and the Cave of Yao Bikuni
The temple at the edge of Obama's castle town where the nun who ate mermaid flesh and lived eight hundred years entered her cave.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Shrine or temple
- Prefecture
- Fukui · Obama
- Nearest station
- Obama Station (JR Obama Line)
- From the station
- About 15 minutes on foot
- English signage
- none
- Opening hours and admission
- See the official site (external link) · information checked on 2026-11-03
Hours, admission and closing days change, and this site does not list them. The link goes to the place's own page, with the date we last checked it.
What is there
Kūinji is a Zen temple a quarter of an hour’s walk from Obama station, on the hill behind the old castle town. In a corner of its grounds a low cave opens in the rock, closed by a small gate, with a statue of a nun beside it and a white camellia planted in front: this is where Yao Bikuni, the nun of eight hundred years, is said to have gone in and never come out. Obama claims her as its own, and the camellia is her flower.Why here
A fisherman of Wakasa brought home flesh from a strange feast and his daughter ate it without knowing it was mermaid; she stopped ageing. She outlived husbands and children, became a nun, walked the country for centuries planting camellias, and came back to Obama at eight hundred to enter this cave. The mermaid of the tale is the one in the article, and the cave is where its gift ends.Yokai you will meet
- Ningyo 人魚 — The cave where the nun who ate mermaid flesh ended her eight hundred years.
Getting there
Obama Station (JR Obama Line). About 15 minutes on foot.
Sources and further reading
- Reliable secondary Wakasa Obama Tourism (external link) Wakasa Obama Tourism Association Visitor site for Obama, including Kūinji and the cave of Yao Bikuni.
- Database Kūinji (空印寺) (external link) Wikipedia (Japanese) The temple and the cave in its grounds where Yao Bikuni is said to have entered.
- Database Yao Bikuni (八百比丘尼) (external link) Wikipedia (Japanese) The nun of eight hundred years, the mermaid flesh and the Obama tradition.