According to Aramaki and Takahashi (1992), there is an old saying that more than 100 steps led to this small temple from the village to the east. Today only 15 steps are visible above the ground. An excavation made in 1979 revealed that total 50 steps existed in fact. At the very base of the steps, remains of two women were found during the excavation. The middle-aged woman was carrying an elderly woman on her back apparently trying to climb the steps to reach higher places, but both were overwhelmed by the avalanche.

It is recorded that those who had time to climb the steps to the top survived but others, some 477 out of 560 villagers, did not. Total death tolls of the 1783 eruption of Asama amounted 1400 including those by a flood induced by the avalanche.

Stone steps buried by the Kambara debris avalanche