Togakushi

The approach tells you everything. A tunnel of four-hundred-year-old cedar trees, their trunks silvered with age, leads uphill through forest so dense the sky narrows to a strip. At the top, the shrine appears against a wall of volcanic cliffs. Below, a ninja village hides in the trees — because of course it does. Togakushi has been keeping secrets since the mountain gods lived here.

Togakushi is a highland area in the mountains behind Nagano city, centred on five Shinto shrines connected by forest trails. The Togakushi Okusha approach — a two-kilometre avenue of giant cryptomeria cedars, some over four centuries old — is considered one of Japan's most atmospheric shrine walks. The area has deep historical ties to the Togakure-ryū school of ninjutsu, one of the oldest ninja traditions, and the Togakushi Ninja Museum preserves training equipment and trick houses. Togakushi soba, made from buckwheat grown in the volcanic soil at 1,200 metres elevation, is ranked among the finest in Japan and served at dozens of specialist restaurants along the shrine road.