Gero Onsen Shrine

A dragon sculpture at the entrance of Gero Onsen Shrine spouts thermal water into a stone basin, a symbol of the hot springs that define this town. The shrine was established in 1989 to express gratitude for those springs and is affiliated with the ancient Yudonosan Jinja in Yamagata. The white egret is central to local tradition: legend holds that the springs were rediscovered when townspeople followed a white egret they saw bathing at the Hida River each day. The egret motif appears throughout Gero, and at the annual October 8 festival, celebrants parade in white egret costumes and formal samurai attire through the surrounding streets.