Recorded Joy·Rakuhoku / Kitaōji

Shimogamo Shrine's Ancient Forest

The Tadasu no Mori along the approach is a primeval wood of zelkova, hackberry and nettle-tree, where the old growth alone—trees of 200 to 600 years—numbers some 600, said to preserve vegetation continuous since the Jōmon age. Deep within, Mitarashi Pond is said to send up bubbles from its bed around the height of summer, and the sweet shaped after those bubbles is, by tradition, the origin of the mitarashi dumpling. The single dumpling skewered apart from the rest is said to stand for the human head and body. The shrine's periodic rebuilding, the shikinen sengū, is held to have been established about a thousand years ago, in 1036.

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These notes come from desk research. Local traditions vary.