Iwayasan Cave and Cliff-Carved Buddhas
Main Image Eight Cliff-Carved Buddhas and Shikoku Eighty-Eight Stone Buddha Group Category Other
Impression TagsMysteryDepthStillness
DescriptionThis cave sanctuary lies halfway up Mount Iwaya behind the village of Shukunegi. Eight Buddhist figures are carved in half relief directly into the rock inside the cave, while the grounds contain 88 stone images modeled on the Shikoku Eighty-Eight Temple pilgrimage. Long revered locally as “Iwaya-san,” the site remains a place of living faith, including the practice of nemari henro, in which worshippers sit inside the cave hall while chanting hymns and nenbutsu. Early Jomon pottery was also excavated here, and the cave is designated a historic site of Niigata Prefecture. Visitors can reach it by a footpath and worship freely; admission is free. The combination of cave, cliff carvings and stone images makes it one of Sado’s most distinctive Buddhist sacred sites.
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