☰Akama Shrine

This vivid vermilion shrine on the shores of the Kanmon Strait is dedicated to the child Emperor Antoku, who drowned here at the age of seven during the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 — the naval battle that ended the Heike clan and decided the fate of medieval Japan. The shrine grounds include statues of the blind biwa player Hoichi, whose ghost story made this place famous. In the treasury you can see Heikegani crabs, whose shells bear markings that look uncannily like the face of a samurai warrior — a phenomenon that inspired Carl Sagan's observations on natural selection.