Okamoto Otaki Shrine 岡太神社・大瀧神社

The province of Echizen, in the prefecture of Fukui, is a region particularly dense in handicrafts . Knives are made there, but it is a province specializing in the manufacture of traditional Japanese paper, washi paper .

The region would have specialized in the manufacture of paper following the intervention of a woman who would have taught the inhabitants how to manufacture paper with natural materials coming from particular plants called Kozo . An apprenticeship that it would have offered them 1,500 years ago , since the people living in this province did not have rice fields to be able to earn a living.

To read: Echizen, birthplace of washi paper

The Only Temple Dedicated To The Paper Goddess

But this woman mysteriously disappeared in a river . It was then that she was called Kawakami Gozen, "god up the river" in Japanese , and was enshrined as the goddess of paper. She is thus venerated at the Okamoto Otaki Shrine. The only one in Japan to worship the paper princess.

Located just a few kilometers from the Paper Village in Echizen , Okamoto Otaki Shrine is surrounded by tall pine trees , so tall that you can barely see it when standing at the entrance. Only the majestic red torii located at its end allows the visitor to understand that a sanctuary is hidden a few meters away.

A Double Sanctuary

It is then necessary to take a small paved path , also surrounded by pines but also by various statues , including one, magnificent, representing a horse. The shrine is actually a combined shrine which consists of two buildings , built in the second half of the Edo period (1603-1868). Located at the top of a small mountain called Mount Gongen , there is a calm and soothing atmosphere. Considered since 1985 as an " Important Cultural Property " of Japan, this temple is regularly visited by locals who come to meditate there, or by washi craftsmen , who come to pray to their goddess and seek good fortune.