Kinone Shrine

"This Shinto shrine is located some 300 meters down the road from Ousaka Hachiman Shrine, a Shinto shrine affectionately known to locals as ""Hachiman-san."" According to legend, the shrine's origins date back to the story of a local young man who had been cursed with a weak constitution since birth; his mother prayed to a pine tree root without break from morning to night according to a divine message she received from Ousaka Hachiman Shrine and, when she was finished, her son had become the picture of health and was blessed with children. The shrine enshrines a sacred pine root shaped like a phallus, and since ancient times it has been believed to grant worshipers with children, luck in finding love and marriage, and matrimonial happiness. The shrine was visited by Meiji period writer Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo); the author detailed his experience praying here in his travel journal ""Nihonkai ni soute."""