Wow, Yuki Yuna is a Hero!
For a remote shrine in Kanonji, Japan, anyway.
The shrine and its torii gate tower over the city and offer great views, but they’re hard to get to, and visits had waned in recent years.
But thanks in part to being featured on anime series Yuki Yuna is a Hero, the gate has become a popular selfie destination.
The shrine is called Takayajinja, and the torii gate in question is a solid 45-minute climb from the lower shrine at its base. It’s also apparently hard to find, with many Yuna fans wandering all over the mountain in search for it. In response, the local city government has started to provide photographs in order to help anime pilgrims and Instagram maniacs find the gate.
This is yet the latest example of so-called anime pilgrimages, where fans make trips to the occasionally remote locations featured in their favorite anime. Here’s a blog of a Yuna fan who’s taken photos of many of the places used in the series.
The most recent season of Yuki Yuna is a Hero aired between March 2017 and January 2018. Here’s how Amazon describes it:
Two years before “Yuki Yuna is a Hero.” Sumi Washio is only in 6th grade, but she’s a hero who was chosen by Shinjyu to save the world. Sumi fulfills her role while cherishing her precious regular life with her classmates, Sonoko Nogi and Gin Minowa. The story moves onto Yuki Yuna from Sumi Washio. An incident occurs at the Sanshu Middle School Hero Club who used to have a peaceful everyday life.
If you were to visit Japan, what anime-related areas would you make a pilgrimage to?
Source: Asahi Shinbun