Red torii
In the lake.
Daderot — CC0 · Quercus acuta — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bgabel — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Quercus acuta — CC0 · Suicasmo — CC BY-SA 4.0
Hakone Shrine is a Shinto shrine in tall cedar forest on the shore of Lake Ashi. Its best-known feature is a large red torii gate standing in the lake, the «Gate of Peace», with green forest behind and, on clear days, Mount Fuji above the hills. Shrine tradition says it was founded in AD 757 on the summit of Mount Komagatake and later moved to the lakeshore; its present form dates from 1667. It was popular with samurai in the Kamakura period, and the warlord Minamoto no Yoritomo was a patron. It burned in the 16th century and was rebuilt by Tokugawa Ieyasu. You climb stone steps through the cedars to the main hall, then go down to the gate in the water. Many people queue to photograph it, so go early. You also see the gate from boats on the lake. It is about 8 km in a straight line southwest of central Hakone, near Moto-Hakone port.
In the lake.
To the shrine.
On clear days.
Shore of Lake Ashi, Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture
Go early in the morning.
On clear days, especially in winter.