Kibitsu Shrine

This is where Momotaro comes from. The shrine enshrines Kibitsuhiko-no-mikoto, a prince sent to subdue a demon called Ura who had been terrorising the Kibi plain, and over centuries that campaign turned into the peach boy folk tale that every Japanese child knows. The demon's severed head is said to be buried under the cauldron in one of the buildings here.

The main hall, rebuilt in 1425, is unique. Two gabled roofs are joined side by side into a single structure, a form called kibitsu-zukuri that exists nowhere else in Japan, and it is a National Treasure. It is also enormous, and the effect from below the steps is closer to a fortress than a shrine.

The corridor is the other thing. A roofed wooden walkway 360 metres long runs from the main hall down along the contour of the hillside, built in 1579 and following the slope so the floor rises and falls under you. Walking it takes five minutes and is the single best reason to come.

At the far end is the Narukama Shinji. A priest boils rice over a cauldron, and the sound the cauldron makes as it heats is read as an answer to a question. It has been performed here for centuries, and Ueda Akinari built one of Japan's most famous ghost stories around it. Bookings are taken for the ritual on the day.

Entry is free. Kibitsu station on the JR Kibi line is a ten-minute walk, and the Kibi Plain cycling route runs past it: about fifteen kilometres of flat lanes between burial mounds, temples and rice fields, with rental bicycles at both ends. It is the best half-day ride in western Japan.