Halfway up Mount Yoshino, the vermilion Zaodo Hall still stands quietly today. Long ago, in the Hakuho era, En no Gyoja is said to have entered deep into these mountains, walking day after day, month after month, across the peaks of Omine. From Mount Katsuragi, through Kumano, into Omine — crossing ridges few had ever crossed, fording valleys, moving forward step by step in prayer.

One morning, when the deep mountain mist finally cleared, the ascetic is said to have seen, beyond a grove of cherry trees, the form of Zao Gongen. That form was carved into a single cherry tree and enshrined both on the peak of Sanjo-ga-take and here in Yoshino — a form he finally encountered only after years of walking these mountains.

Standing before the hall today, thirty-four meters high, one can almost see, behind its dignified form, the long road a single ascetic once walked, crossing mountain after mountain, valley after valley.