Mount Osore · The Gathering of the Dead by the Crater

Mount Osore is one of the three great sacred sites of Japan. The lake pooled in the crater stays white all year, the shore is thick with pinwheels and stone cairns, and the smell of sulphur is strong enough to sting.

At the gate, the local itako mediums pass messages from the living to the dead. It is said that once every July the dead come back from across the lake, and the pinwheels are there to show them the way.

Visitors say that the way the pinwheels turn sometimes does not match the direction of the wind.

Folklore / Aomori · Japan / 862