Iwashimizu Hachimangu is a shrine on top of Otokoyama, south of Kyoto. It is said to have begun in 859, when Gyokyo, a monk of Daianji in Nara, received an oracle at Usa Hachimangu in Kyushu and brought the god Hachiman here. As the god guarding the capital's back demon gate (the southwest) and as an ancestral god of the imperial house, it was revered as the second ancestral shrine after Ise. It was also the clan god of the Minamoto, and Minamoto no Yoshiie, who came of age here, called himself "Hachiman Taro."
At the foot of Otokoyama were temples and shrines such as Gokurakuji and Kora Shrine; pilgrims would first worship at these, then climb the mountain path to the main shrine at the top.
The monk of Ninnaji in Section 52 took Gokurakuji and Kora Shrine at the foot for the main shrine, worshiped, and went home satisfied that "this is all." Seeing the other pilgrims climb the mountain, he wondered what was there, but thinking "worshiping the god is the real purpose," he deliberately did not go. His real destination was at the top of that very mountain.
Kenko does not leave it at a joke, but ends: "Even in small things, one wants a guide." However small the matter, it is better to have a guide who knows the way. He quietly teaches the danger of judging by one's own assumptions alone.
You can still ride a cable car to the top at Iwashimizu Hachimangu today. Beside Kora Shrine at the foot stands a sign marking the place connected with Essays in Idleness. The main shrine on the hilltop that the monk missed was designated a National Treasure in 2016.