Yoshimizu Shrine

From the Zao-do of Kimpusen-ji a side lane drops off Yoshino's main street and climbs again to a gate about five minutes away. Yoshimizu Shrine is small, and until the separation of Shinto and Buddhism in the early Meiji period it was not a shrine at all but Yoshimizu-in, one of Kimpusen-ji's higher-ranking monks' lodgings. It now enshrines Emperor Go-Daigo and his general Kusunoki Masashige, among others.

The reason to come is the shoin. The shrine calls it the oldest shoin in Japan, an early example of the style whose alcove and staggered shelves later became standard in Japanese reception rooms. It is an Important Cultural Property and part of the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage listing. Three rooms carry the stories. In late 1185 Minamoto no Yoshitsune, on the run from his brother Yoritomo, is said to have hidden here with Shizuka Gozen and Benkei. In 1336 Emperor Go-Daigo, having escaped from Kyoto, made it his temporary palace, and the room with his seat is still kept. In 1594 Toyotomi Hideyoshi used it as his headquarters for a cherry-blossom party usually put at 5,000 guests. Cases hold Southern Court documents, weapons and objects from that party. The rooms are dim, the labels are in Japanese, and there is little English, so read up on the Southern Court before you go.

Outside, the courtyard is the Hitome Senbon viewpoint, 'a thousand trees at a glance': you look across a fold in the mountain to the Naka Senbon and Kami Senbon slopes. In a normal year those bloom from early to mid April, and the courtyard is shoulder to shoulder then. The gate opens at 9:00 and closes at 17:00, so there is no dawn view from here.

My advice: come for the view in April if you must, but come back in June or November for the shoin, when you can stand in Go-Daigo's room and actually take it in. The rest of Mount Yoshino, including Kimpusen-ji, is a short walk away.