Iwaya cave, the famous tourist attraction in Japan

News24xx.com - Around 1500 years ago, a fortune-teller told the emperor of Japan of that time to build a shrine inside Iwaya Cave. In the next years, many famous monks and samurai went there to do pilgrimage.

These days, the cave and the shrine is more of tourist destinations than holy site. However, the place retains its mystical charm.

Iwaya Cave is located on Enoshima Island, which only take 72 minutes with train from Tokyo downtown. The island is a famous as tourist destinations. It has botanical gardens, lighthouse with observation gallery, and some restaurants and souvenir shops. Enoshima Island is connected to the main land with a 600 meters road that is straddled by coastlines. The place is often visited by tourists.

Iwaya Cave is located at the back of the island and faces the sea. To go there, you have to take the stairs to the top of the island or take the escalator, although you have to pay for that. After that, you have to take another flight of stairs down to the water surface.

If you are too lazy to do all of it, you can go there with a ferry. However, the ferry’s schedule is not certain and it depends on the weather.

While it had been underground before, Iwaya Cave has been eroded by seawater that it is now on the water surface. You can access it through a rocky beach.

The first cave is the biggest cave that will lead you to a long tunnel. You should bring a lantern when you enter as it will get darker as you go further. There is a Buddha statue at the entrance cave. The entrance is split into two. In the left tunnel, you will find the statues of the goddesses of the island. On the right tunnel, you will find the statue of Amaterasu, the sun goddess in Japanese myth that is said to be the ancestor of the royal family.

If you go to the left tunnel, you will arrive at the second cave. There you will find the statue of the dragon that terrorized the region. According to the story, the Goddess Benten was able to subdue the dragon and since then, it became the protector of the local fishermen. If you clap your hands in front of the statue, you will hear the sound of thunder inside the cave.

The popularity of Iwaya Caves is probably due to the nice view of the sea. You can go there by train. The entrance ticket cost 500 Yen and it is open from 9 in the morning to 4 or 5 in the afternoon. However, it is closed during extreme weather.

 

 

 

News24xx.com/fik/red