Mt. Horai-ji-san鳳来寺山（ほうらいじさん）

Home of Japanese scops owls, famous for their distinctive hoot. Mountains overlook the East Mikawa Plain and the Mikawa Bay.

Mt. Horaiji-san is a volcanic mountain in the Oku-Mikawa region in eastern Aichi. The mountain has been designated as a scenic spot and a precious natural monument of Japan, and is located within Tenryu-Oku-Mikawa Quasi-National Park. This mountain is noted as the home of Japanese scops owls, famous for their hooting, which sounds like "Bu (Buddha), Po (sutra), and So (priest)," as well as flying squirrels.

The Mt. Horai-ji Natural Science Museum at the gateway to the mountains is where you can learn about the behavior and conditions of the animals and plants of the mountains. You can see stuffed Japanese serows and Hodgson's hawk eagles, as well as hear the recorded hooting of owls. There are also exhibits of ferns, lilies, and other plants and rocks and minerals unique to Mt. Horai-ji-san. You can enjoy a panoramic view of the East Mikawa Plain and Mikawa Bay from the top of the mountain.

Horai-ji Temple is located halfway up Mt. Horai-ji-san, and is covered with a dense forest of old cedars and Japanese cypresses that spread from the approach path of 1,425 stone steps to the precincts. Tosho-gu Shrine, built by the third Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu in the 17th century, is to the east of the main temple. The interior walls of Tosho-gu are decorated with elaborate carvings that resemble those in Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko, Tochigi.