9. The Shrine of Konpira-san: Answering Everyone's Prayer

Konpira-san, the Kotohira-gu Shrine in Kagawa Prefecture, Shikoku, is a place to pray for anything from good health to success in exams or love and draws 3 million visitors a year. It stands on Mt. Zozu, a peak once revered by seafarers of the Seto Inland Sea, and became a holy place for everyone during the Edo Period. It is also a place of culture and entertainment with a collection of artworks by Maruyama Okyo, Itoh Jakuchu and other famous painters and Japan's oldest extant kabuki theater, Kanamaru-za. We discover the varied history of the Kotohira Shrine, a place of both faith and desire, through its rituals and customs.