{"id":74,"date":"2025-03-25T16:28:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T07:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/?p=74"},"modified":"2025-03-25T16:28:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T07:28:50","slug":"fudokutsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/info\/fudokutsu\/","title":{"rendered":"The Limestone Cave of Fud\u014d My\u014d-\u014d (Fud\u014dkutsu Sh\u014dny\u016bd\u014d)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75\" src=\"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fudokutsu.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fudokutsu.jpg 900w, https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fudokutsu-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fudokutsu-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Down a curving staircase of 129 steps lies the entrance to a large limestone cave guarded by a fearsome statue of the Buddhist deity Fud\u014d My\u014d-\u014d. For centuries, the cave was used by followers of the ascetic practice known as Shugend\u014d. Legend says the founder of Shugend\u014d, En no Gy\u014dja (634\u2013c. 701), discovered the cave some 1,300 years ago. Inside the 140-meter cave system are four connected chambers and a powerful, rushing waterfall called Fud\u014d no Taki, or \u201cFud\u014d\u2019s Falls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The statue portrays Fud\u014d My\u014d-\u014d as wielding a sword and surrounded by flames, representing his power to repel evil and burn away obstacles to human enlightenment. He was highly revered by Shugend\u014d practitioners, who often placed statues of him near waterfalls. As part of their arduous training, ascetics would enter the cave alone and proceed forward through the darkness, toward the sound of the waterfall. While today the course is well lit, with handrails and stairs to aid in reaching the farthest chamber, these ascetics would have had no knowledge of the sudden drops, jagged clefts, and rocky overhangs that lay before them. Close to the falls, the roar of plunging water echoing from all sides would have made the darkness even more disorienting.<\/p>\n<p>Entry into the cave begins at caf\u00e9 Kissa Hora! Ana, where cave-goers pay a small fee before descending the staircase. The caf\u00e9 serves an eclectic menu ranging from entrees made with wild boar or venison to freshly baked \u201cDutch baby\u201d pancakes. Its lounge area is furnished with sofas positioned near large windows that overlook the valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Down a curving staircase of 129 steps lies the entrance to a large limestone cave guarded by a fearsome statue [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g-tourism.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}