Yunotsu: Sainenji Temple

In 1561 the Mohri clan donated this mountainside site to a group of Pure Land Buddhists who, with Mohri workers, carved into the rock to expand the land enough to build a temple. The project included establishing a road connecting Yunotsu to the nearby port of Okidomari, used mainly for silver shipments from Iwami Ginzan. That road passed right in front of Sainenji, and the temple also functioned as a refuge for travelers needing protection. The path can still be walked today, accessed behind the closed side gate facing the main hall. The cemetery on the slope behind the 1879 main hall is considerably older, with the earliest tombstones dating to the first half of the seventeenth century.