Shrines

Associated with Japanese folklore's most eminent sorcerer, this slab of rock is said to be both a blessing and a curse.

A rare public effigy of “the Embracing Kangiten,” the erotic Japanese equivalent of Hindu god Ganesha.

The alleged site of the months-long imprisonment of a Japanese prince.

A lone torii arch stands on a coastal rock where a deity is said to have landed.

Haunted by a giant white snake, this pond is said to bring the rain and pubic hair.

At a museum dedicated to the millenia-old rites and art of Buddhism, the Buddha's reputed tooth is held as an object of worship.

On the roof of the oldest department store in Tainan stands a Shinto shrine dating back to the 1930s.

Once upon a time in Kamakura, a five-headed dragon fell in love with an Indian water goddess.

Once the site of medieval pilgrimage for its healing powers, this well was lost and later rediscovered.

A relatively young Buddhist temple on hilltop, dedicated to a statue relocated from Mount Atago.

This shrine commemorates the site of the first known Catholic mass in the United States.

On a desolate hill overlooking McMurdo Station, a statue of the Virgin Mary stands inside a curved iron frame.

This memorial commemorates where a Japanese commander surrendered to Allied forces on September 3, 1945.

A beautiful modern church dedicated to the teleporting patron saint of Andorra.

A mountaintop shrine-temple guarded by a horde of half-demon priests.

This 700-year-old temple is one of the city's oldest.

Hike along an abandoned railway up to a popular pilgrimage site.

A tiny 1857 chapel sits on top of a secluded, forested hill.