Yudonosan Shrine, Shinto shrine in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan

Yudonosan Shrine has no main hall or worship building; the mountain itself is the object of worship, with a rock as its iwakura. The approach passes a large vermilion torii with a dark plaque bearing gold characters, then a purification hut where visitors remove their shoes and purify themselves with paper figures before proceeding barefoot.

Yudonosan Shrine is the final stop of the Shugendo pilgrimage across the Three Mountains of Dewa, after Mount Haguro and Mount Gassan. Before the Meiji era it was identified with Dainichi Nyorai, beyond the three Buddhas of the other peaks. In 1932 it was ranked a National Small Shrine, and after the war it became a Beppyo shrine of the Jinja Honcho.

Before entering, visitors remove their shoes at the purification hut and rub themselves with paper effigies (katashiro); without this rite, entry is not permitted. The shrine keeps the custom of "ask nothing, tell nothing" about its sacred object, and photographs of the kami are strictly forbidden. The haiku poet Matsuo Bashō, who came in July 1689, left the verse "I cannot speak of Yudono, yet my sleeves are wet."

The shrine has no main hall or worship building; the mountain itself is the object of worship. Visitors must remove their shoes at the purification hut and perform a paper-doll purification before approaching. Private cars cannot drive to the shrine; park at the仙人沢 parking lot and take the shuttle bus or walk. The site is inaccessible in winter due to heavy snow.

Before entering, visitors remove their shoes at the purification hut and rub themselves with paper effigies (katashiro); barefoot purification, not bathing, is required. The shrine has no main hall or worship hall: the mountain itself is the deity, and photography of the sacred object is forbidden. The haiku poet Matsuo Bashō visited in July 1689 and wrote of wet sleeves at Yudono that he could not speak of.