Yutoku Inari Shrine is Kashima's reason to get off the train. The main hall stands high on red timber supports, backed by wooded slopes and paths of torii gates that climb toward the inner shrine.
It is especially good in spring blossom, autumn ginkgo colour, or the rare winter day when snow makes the red-and-white contrast sharper. Even without seasonal luck, the shrine has enough scale and theatre to carry a half-day in Kashima.