Heisen-ji平泉寺白山神社

A 700 m stone-paved path runs through the Bodaibayashi (菩提林), a grove of old cedars with beech, rare stewartia and wild pear among them. Pilgrims got off their horses at the Geba bridge at the entrance and washed in the river before walking on. It is one of Japan’s 100 Roads.

Tradition says monks passed the stones hand to hand from the Onagami River, chanting, and wrote sutra characters on their backs. The steps are large and uneven, so wear flat shoes and take care after rain.

The shrine says the moss is there in spring, summer and autumn, and looks best just after rain. Stay on the path: the moss is roped off and touching, cutting or taking it is not allowed.

Food and drink are banned in the grounds, because crumbs bring bears and monkeys that tear the moss up. The information centre and the Mahoroba museum lend bear bells for free; take one.

The haiden (worship hall) has a cypress-bark roof from the Edo period. Before the fire of 1574 it was 46 ken (about 83 m) wide, larger than Kyoto’s Sanjūsangen-dō, and the scattered foundation stones show it. The main shrine behind it was rebuilt in 1795; its inner doors open only every 33 years (the shrine’s own page gave May 2025 as the latest opening).

A three-trunked cedar in the grounds is said to have been planted by Taichō, the monk who founded the shrine; the three trunks stand for the three peaks of Hakusan. Pray in the usual way: two bows, two claps, one bow.

Katsuyama began digging here in 1989. At Minami-dani you see the foundations and a restored gate and earthen wall of monks’ residences, and the finds explain how the place lived. Only about 1% of the old site has been excavated.

The Mahoroba history museum is free (9:00–17:00, last entry 16:30, closed at New Year) and has the toilets, a nursing room and umbrellas to borrow. The old Gen’seiin garden beside the shrine office, attributed to Hosokawa Takakuni, costs ¥50.

The paths are stone with big steps, uneven and slippery in the rain, so flat shoes matter. The shrine puts the walk to the hall and the sanctuary and back at about 60 minutes.

Behind the Sannomiya shrine starts the old Hakusan Zenjōdō, the pilgrim trail that Taichō is said to have climbed to the summit; it is among Japan’s 100 Historic Roads (1996). Most visitors only look.