North Fukuoka · FukutsuNo.764★★★Open in map →

Miyajidake Shrine

— The Fukutsu shrine of the Path of Light

cultureThe classic — done right

A hillside shrine above Fukutsu whose stone approach points due west, down through the town and out to the Genkai Sea. The alignment of that line with the setting sun is what the place is known for.

FromHakata Station
~45 minJR train, then a short bus
Get off atFukuma Station (JR Kagoshima Main Line)
From there
Miyajidake Shrine

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

The stone approachthe west-facing ramp of steps, with the town and the open sea in line below it
The main hallan outsized rice-straw rope slung across the whole width of the front
The loop of subsidiary shrinesa circuit through cedar behind the hall, taking in shrines for fortune, love, water and medicine
Fudo Shrinea hall built at the mouth of a burial passage, the stone chamber running back into the hill

How to actually get there

Hakata Station → Fukuma on the Kagoshima Main Line, rapid or local.
Leave by the Miyaji exit and take the Nishitetsu bus toward Tsuyazaki-bashi.
Get off at the shrine stop and walk to the stone torii at the foot of the approach.
Climb the steps, then take the forest loop of subsidiary shrines behind the hall.

Kagoshima Main Line to Fukuma, then a bus: Rapid and local trains on the Kagoshima Main Line run north out of Hakata and both stop at Fukuma. Leave by the Miyaji exit on the west side of the station, and take the Nishitetsu bus bound for Tsuyazaki-bashi from the forecourt. Get off at the shrine stop and the first torii is already in front of you.
Back to Hakata: The same bus runs back down to Fukuma, and trains south to Hakata are frequent into the evening. The bus thins out before the trains do, so keep the walk down in reserve — it is one road and it is lit.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Miyajidake stands on a low hill above Fukutsu, and its approach is a straight ramp of stone dropping away to the north-west. From the top step that line carries on past the town, over the water, and out to the island of Ainoshima. Twice a year the sun sets exactly on it. The shrine treats the alignment as an event rather than a photograph: a festival is held for it, and the approach and the crowd are both managed. Behind the main hall the ground rises again into forest, where eight small shrines are set out along a loop and a large stone burial chamber opens into the hillside.

How to enjoy it

The alignment falls around the 20th of February and the 20th of October, with a festival held over the days on either side. Numbered tickets are handed out on the day for general viewing and a seated service is taken in advance, so read the shrine's own notice before you build an evening around it. On every other date the approach is open and unmanaged, and the light coming down the steps in the last hour before sunset is still the best of the day.

Background & history

The shrine's own account traces its founding to Empress Jingu, who is said to have raised an altar on this hill and prayed here before crossing the sea. She stands at the centre of the three deities worshipped on the site. Far later, a burial chamber cut into the hillside behind the shrine was given a second life: an image of Fudo Myo-o was installed deep in the stone passage, and the mound itself became one of the subsidiary shrines. The chamber is reckoned among the largest of its kind in the country.

Before you go

Cash: The precinct is free to enter and free to walk. On the festival evenings the shrine separates a seated service from general viewing, and it handles both itself, so confirm the arrangement with the shrine rather than with a booking site.
Good to know: The approach is outdoors and never shuts, but the Path of Light depends on the weather out at sea, and one bank of cloud on the horizon cancels it. The forest circuit behind the hall is unlit, so walk it before dusk. Rites follow the shrine's own calendar.
Another way: By car the shrine is reached from the Kyushu Expressway on the inland side. Coming from the Kitakyushu direction rather than Hakata, the same Kagoshima Main Line runs south to Fukuma, which makes the shrine an easy stop between the two cities.
After you get off: Fukuma has two exits and the shrine is on the Miyaji side, to the west. On foot it is a straight two kilometres, about twenty-five minutes along one road. The bus covers the same ground in well under ten minutes.