Cat Shrine of Osfu

Cat shrines are nothing uncommon and can be find all over the western continent. Feline creatures are seen by many cultures as excellent hunters and were worshipped by many prehistoric tribes before the rise of more organised forms of religion. The shrine on the Osfu island is believed to be the oldest shrine in the world found to this date. For centuries the place itself was considered to be a myth. It was recently discovered that Osfu is a rare traveling island that was brought back by the currents closer to the coast of the main island and therefore it can be visited again. But only with an experienced mist guide as your companion.   Besides the shrine itself, there is very little else than some random rocks to be found on the island itself. It is bare and might seem to be crumbling and slowly falling apart. Historians are calling against tourist going there out of fear that the presence of many reckless visitors might speed up the distruction of this priceless sacred place.   The building is basically an artifically made cave system made into a big coastal rock which tip was sculpted into a sitting cat statue with a moth firmly lodged between its teeth. The hollow eyes have some marks of smoke and fire being used to lit them up and many believe it may have been used as an ancient form of lighthouse for travellers lost in the mist to have at least some hope for finding their way back or as a way to call people for sermons. There is a big theory out there that the island used to be a part of a larger piece of land and it got broken off later, by some natural disaster, after the area was abandoned by its residing tribe.   Inside the cave there is a very simple altar with markings that were not deciphered as of now. Many of the markings faded so much over the years it is almost impossible to guess their original shape.

Cover image: cat licking its paw by Eric Han
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