Kasa Ishi (Bamboo-Hat Rock)
This rather unusually shaped rock strongly resembles a flat-brimmed bamboo hat resting on top of a pillar. According to legend, when the priest Kukai (known posthumously as Kobo Daishi; 774–835), the founder of Koyasan, was making his way up the mountain, the wind swept away his bamboo hat and it landed here.
Near the top of the pillar is a small carving of Amida Nyorai (the Buddha of Infinite Life and Light) and an inscription dating the pillar to the Nanbokucho period (1336–1392). The stone pillar was likely made to replace an original wooden version.
The Kasa Ishi is one of the major landmarks on the Mitanizaka Trail, which continues to the right at the nearby fork in the road.