Tsunakakeiwa Rock Mishima shrine

At Mishima Shrine in Ozu, a massive boulder in the riverbed has been strung with enormous twisted straw shimenawa ropes for centuries. The ropes mark the rock as a sacred object, symbolizing the boundary between the human and divine worlds. During the annual festival, new ropes are braided and stretched across the water to the rock in a ceremony that has continued for hundreds of years. Even outside festival season the site is worth a stop to see the scale of the ropes up close.