The Jizo-do and stone stele of Wari-saka

The Jizo-do is at the start of the Wari-saka slope downwards in the trifurcate road. There it was the Furuno Amida-dera temple. Going to the east, we find the Kinkei-zan Gokuraku-ji temple (Yūzū Nenbustsu-shu, a school of Pure Land Buddhism). At the beginning of the Meiji period, according to the stories told by elderly persons, at both sides of the Wari-saka slope there were grown bushes that made this slope dark even during date light, and this slope was known as “Kuragari-saka” (slope of darkness). At that time, the houses in the Nagano village had straw thatched roofs and near the present Nagano station, a lot of fields spread around. And at night, it is said that they could hear the howling of the wolves.