Here are pictures from various trips up to visit the shrine at the bottom of Mr. Osore's caldera. This mountain is still somewhat hot and has very active hotsprings all over the bottom and in the surrounding area. It is open for visitation only part of the year due to extremely heavy snowfall and steep access roads. The shrine closes for winter in October, just after its yearly event of the Blind Mediums who set up shop on the grounds and thousands of Japanese families come from all over Japan to speak with their dead relatives. Its quite a sight to behold. There are Onsen (hot spring baths) for men, women, and a mixed-bathing bath. Here is the picture I took inside the men's bath on the last day of the season. Alas, they had turned off the cold water supply and I could not get into the water as it was way too hot. On another trip I was able to take a bath and enjoyed a pleasant coversation with my fellow bathers (all japanese men) talking about various famous onsen in Tohoku that we had both visited.

This is a "JIZO" statue. It represents someone who has died. Many people have clothed it and presented it with offerings.

This is a special shrine/spring along the road to the top of the mountain before you back down inside the caldera. It is good luck and longevity you are drinking from these springs. Here I get to play with the 10 second timer so Keiko and I can be in the picture.   Not quite long enough for use to get in position due to the snowbank we had to walk over to get to the water.  There are small "JIZO" statues between the wooden throughs.

Here are some of the other visitors to the shrines bringing their bags of snacks and things to leave. They also leave many one (1) yen coins as token offerings. Since 1 yen pieces are made of aluminium, they react kind of interestingly to the sulfur springs and corrosive air.

The cold water spigots were already shut down on this day, but on another trip I actually got to take a bath here. Very good water, high sulfur content, VERY HOT. The wooden tub allows you to sit on the bottom with the water up to your neck. Wonderful...

Here is Michelle standing over a bubbling hot spring. While not as impressive as some of the stuff you could see at Yosemite, this wins big points with me for how close you can really get to the water.

More "JIZO" statues. This day was the during the Blind Medium event so all of the statues had been freshly adorned.

I spotted these while walking around the grounds. By manipulating the grass and piling up some rocks like this, they have created a nature shrine.

Here is Keiko, my wife, posing in front of the main temple grounds on the Blind Medium Day.

Here are Michelle and I standing at the traditional/you-pay-for-it group photo-op posing site. Behind us is the main gate to the temple with the traditional Buddist Temple Guardian statues (wood carvings) standing on either side of the entrance. There are 4 guardians, 2 on each side.  The date on the sign reads "Heisei 9  Month 10   Day 26".  Years in Japan are linked to the current ruling Emperor, Hesei in this case.  (This works out to 26 October 1997, in case you are interested.)

Here is another view of the main grounds.  The sign points to where the restrooms are located.  "O-te-rai" means restroom in Japanese.  Memorize this one if you plan to visit Japan.  Also, those international standards of a Red Female Figure and Blue Male Figure are used.  The colors are a bit off as my scanner was failing.  <ick>

This is a view facing south towards the inner shrines and temples from the top of the hill to the left of the main temple pictured above.  This is "FALL COLOR" prime time viewing in October and people travel all over Japan just to see scenes like this one. 

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