On the left and the right side of the gate, two very big sandals that are made of straw (called "ōwaraji", or "big waraji") are hung. They are both long, wide, and have a weight of . New sandals are made every 10 years by people from Tateokāramachi, a neighbourhood in Murayama, Yamagata. The eighth pair of sandals was made in 2018. The ōwaraji are hung there to protect the temple from evil. They are supposed to show how powerful the statues of Nio in the Hōzōmon are. The first ōwaraji were from 1941. The tradition comes from Toshizo Matsuoka, who was a part of the House of Representatives of Japan. He gave some straw sandals to the temple.