Kodaneishi, Fertility Stone
For centuries, people have believed that this stone can aid fertility and in childbirth, ensuring a safe and healthy delivery. People continue to visit the stone for this purpose to this day.
Visitors customarily offer prayers while standing in front of the stone and then circle the stone in a clockwise direction. Many visitors also leave small stones as a form of offering or in thanks for granted prayers. These stones form the mound of smaller rocks located near the Fertility Stone.
The stone is known also as Kodane Gongen. Gongen means the appearance of a Buddha in the form of a Shinto deity and is a reminder of the fusion of Buddhism and Shinto before the Meiji period (1868–1912).