Passing through the Zuishin gate, you start to hear the murmur of the stream. It is called the Harai River, which was used by visitors to Mt. Haguro to purify themselves, as its name indicates, before climbing the mountain. It is said that until the time right after the World War II, when no roadway was available to the mountaintop, worshipers took their clothes off to soak themselves in the river and then walked along the path of reincarnation, to the summit with clean bodies.