The Otoshimioya Shrine is one of the Shizuoka Sengen Shrines in the Shizuoka Prefecture. It was relacquered between July 1933 and July 1934. In 1979, the surface of the lacquered shrine, particularly the front gate, was found to have whitened. The cause of the whitening phenomenon remained until recently, when a small specimen of the whitened lacquered film was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The results obtained clearly show that particles of the <i>jinoko</i>, the clay ground for the lacquer, migrated onto the surface through cracks in the lacquer layer, thus forming a white deposit. -- AATA