About a 7-minute drive from Murayama Station, the shrine is located in the middle of the rice fields of Yuzawa, commonly known as “God of Stone Warts.
Many people come from far away to visit the shrine.
Many people rubbed stone warts with “rice cakes = mochi” and prayed for them, and they were cured! Many people say, “I am cured!
In fact, I am one of them.

In the middle of a rice field! One shrine in a pothole!

A friend of mine who lives in the area often asks for directions. It seems to be really hard to find the place because there are no landmarks.

Google Maps is also unresponsive, as if it were unresponsive. It’s like a free zero.

You may want to start by going to Shokudo Mochi Yakata in Tsurugamachi, Murayama City.

There is an intersection with a traffic light near “Shokudo Mochiyakata” and turn east at that intersection.
Then drive along the road for 3-4 minutes and you will see a black building on your left.

Turn left before a gentle curve and go straight ahead. On the other side on the left, a large group of trees that looks like Totoro trees appear in the middle of the rice paddies! On the other side on the left , a large group of trees that looks like Totoro’s trees appears in the middle of a rice field!
From here, we can only push on down the farm road toward the shrine!

*It is best to avoid disturbing farmers around the time of rice planting (May) and harvest (September). It is not possible to go there in winter due to snow.

We have finally arrived. Kanda Shrine, God of Stone Warts

A small shrine surrounded by large trees.
Although small, it somehow has a sacred atmosphere.

A carefully written explanatory sign stands, but it appears to have been created in 1997.
This is probably evidence of the large number of worshippers here as well.

Originally located in the middle of rice paddies, the shrine seems to be dedicated to “Ukemochinokami,” the god of food.

There are many legends about the god Ukemochinokami,
He is considered ” the god of food, who brings forth fruit from death.”

Both the Chronicles of Japan and the Kojiki contain scenes of slayings, but what they all have in common is that after being cut down, they brought a bounty of five grains.

So how he came to be called “the god of stone warts” is unknown, but he is a very welcome deity for people in need.

It might be kind of interesting to consider that the more stone warts that are cut out, the more fertile the crop will be.

How to pray

The sign says to rub stone warts with an offering of “rice cake” and pray,
According to people who have actually visited the shrine, many people bring mochi (rice cakes), manju (steamed buns), and the like.

When I worshipped there once upon a time,

1. Greetings in front of the torii gate
2. Light the candlestick.
3. Rub a rice cake on the area where stone warts have formed and place an offering.
4. “Two claps, one bow” to worship
5. One worship when leaving the shrine

It is a small shrine with no place for hand watering, but the normal way to visit the shrine should be fine.

There is no money box, but some people seemed to leave some money by the candlestick.

What are “stone warts” anyway?

It is called verruca vulgaris, a hard wart that occurs mainly on the hands and feet and is caused by infection of the skin with the human papillomavirus (HPV).

It is generally more common in children and rarely in adults.

When HPV, the cause of verruca vulgaris, infects the skin, hard papules (boils) ranging in size from several millimeters to 1 cm occur after an incubation period of several months.

If they form on the soles of the feet or other parts of the body, they can be painful if they hit hard surfaces or become huge and crack (fissure), so it is best to treat them as soon as possible after they are noticed.

Facts and Figures

As a child, I had two warts of about 5 mm on my toes that never healed.
Perhaps noticing this, my grandmother took me to Kanda Shrine.

But my grandmother brought it to me.
The offering is “thin crust bread”.

Bread is fine! I was thinking,
My grandmother pressed a piece of bread against the spot where the wart had formed,
I think he was saying, “It is better to katatsudotsu (shape) it.

Since it is a small shrine, perhaps there is no formal formality.

After lighting the candle stand and placing the offerings, all that remains is to pray.

I told my grandmother, “Don’t look back on the way home. I’m going straight home.”
I was told that this is common?

But my friends told me they had never heard of it,
Maybe it was our family’s unique way of doing things, like the bread thing.

I went to pay my respects and a few days later

Then a few days passed, and I felt like the warts were getting smaller. As I spent more and more time thinking about it, I gradually became less and less concerned about it,

Before I knew it, the warts were gone. There was no recurrence!

It healed so beautifully that I don’t even know where it had been since it was ten years ago.

A recent visit to a dermatologist in Higashine also asked about the “shrine of stone warts”,
‘I went there when I was a kid and it really does cure you! I told him enthusiastically,
You don’t need a doctor!” I was laughed at. But decades later, the power of this shrine must still be amazing.

Thank you for curing me. God of stone warts!

If it is you or someone close to you who is in need, I encourage you to go there.

When in doubt
The contact is Murayama City Tourism and Products Association, so please ask the city office!