Otamoi Jizo, a small abandoned Japanese village at the foot of a large cliff

Although it is a country that has never attracted me too much, I admit that I am becoming fond of videos of curious places in Japan.

The hard climb to Otayama, on the island of Hokkaido, the most dangerous shrine in Japan
The intrepid path that children took to a now abandoned school in Japan

The last one I saw shows a trip to Otamoi Jizo, a remote and isolated village in Otaru prefecture, on the island of Hokkaido. This ancient settlement, located at the foot of a large cliff, was populated for two centuries and housed a small Buddhist shrine that received thousands of pilgrims every month. This shrine was related to a beautiful tradition of Japanese Buddhism, the Jizo, a deity that watches over unborn children, babies and small children, as well as travelers. Its statues are often adorned with woolen hats, scarves and bibs, according to the website Japonismo.com.

Otamoi Jizo has been abandoned since the death of its last inhabitant, who was found dead in his home a few years ago, as explained by the YouTube channel Watatabi. In addition, near the town there was a tourist complex, the Ryugukaku, built in 1936, which was destroyed by a fire in 1952. I leave you with Watatabi's trip to this interesting place (if your knowledge of Japanese is as good as mine, I recommend activating the English subtitles in the bottom bar of the video):

You can see some screenshots from the video here. Here we see the abandoned village. According to the author of the video, perhaps up to 100 people once lived here.

A small Buddhist shrine, now in disrepair due to neglect.

There is a storehouse in the village with thousands of Jizo statues, left here by faithful Buddhists as a token of gratitude for some favor granted by that deity.

This spectacular viewing point is what remains of Ryugukaku, the tourist center that burned down in 1952.