Sansha Shrine 三社神社

Ancient cherries and fujizuka

Tiny Sansha, a village shrine in Noda City, is a place to propitiate Izanagi-no-Mikoto, Izanami-no-Mikoto, and Susanoo-no-Mikoto for good fortune and prosperity. It's worth a look in cherry blossom season for the mature trees. It's also got a fujizuka, a mini-mountain. It's a vestige of Edo-era Mt. Fuji cult worship. It's a pit-stop on the way to see the stunning shidare zakura at Muryojuin (10 minutes by car north of Sansha). The shrine was heavily damaged in the Tohoku Earthquake. The new shrine building (dating from 2016) is a fine example of the work of modern miya-daiku, shrine and temple carpenters.