The pilgrimage route from Ishinomaki to Kinkasan was commonly referred to as "Kinkasan-do" ("Kinkasan Road"). Until the early Meiji era (1868-1912), women were forbidden from making their way to Kinkasan to pay their respects to the gods enshrined on the island. Instead, they had to do so from afar at the Ichi-no-torii ("The First Torii Gate"), located in an area called Yamatori on the Oshika Peninsula. Today, the rule forbidding women from entering the holy grounds of Kinkasan has since been removed, and women can now cross the straight connecting Ayukawa Port to Kinkasan Island with everyone else. The Ichi-no-torii gate, along with the former harbor and the old road, still remain intact at the end of Kinkasan Road in an area called Yamatori-no-watashi. Here, you can admire the scenery that still lives on from this distant past.