Yasaka Shrine

Yasaka Shrine stands at the east end of Shijo-dori in Kyoto, and local people call it Gion-san. The name comes from the fact that until 1868 it was known as Gion-sha or Gion Kanshin-in. The enshrined deities are Susanoo-no-Mikoto, his consort Kushinadahime-no-Mikoto, and their children, the Yahashira-no-Miko-gami. The shrine passes down two accounts of its beginnings. In one, Irishi, who came from Goguryeo in 656, enshrined Susanoo here. In the other, Ennyo, a monk from Nara, built a hall on this site in 876.

The shrine is said to have grown in importance after prayers offered here during an epidemic in 877 brought the outbreak to an end. The Gion Festival, too, is a festival of Yasaka Shrine that began with prayers to drive away disease. It traces back to 869, when an epidemic spread and portable shrines were sent to the Shinsen-en garden, where 66 halberds, one for each province of the time, were raised in prayer. The festival runs from July 1 to 31, and its float procession is inscribed on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The National Treasure is one building, the Main Sanctuary, rebuilt by the Edo shogunate in 1654 in the early Edo period. It is described as the last project the shogunate carried out directly for a shrine or temple, and it was designated a National Treasure on December 23, 2020. The sanctuary and the worship hall, which once stood apart, are covered by one great roof of cypress bark, with eaves extended around them and small rooms arranged beneath, a complex form also called Gion-zukuri. With a building area of 662.38 square meters and a height of 15.53 meters, it is the largest main sanctuary of any shrine. It is thought to have taken nearly its present form by 1148 at the latest.

When you look at the Main Sanctuary from outside, watch for the eaves that extend beneath the great roof on three sides, north, east and west. According to the shrine, this style is found only in the buildings of Yasaka Shrine, and the same feature appears in the smaller shrines on the grounds. Legend holds that beneath the sanctuary lies a dragon's den where the Blue Dragon guarding the east of the old capital lives, now sealed with plaster. Just inside the West Tower Gate, the pedestals of the guardian lion-dog statues are decorated with the Four Gods, and the Blue Dragon is shown on the lion's pedestal.

When the Main Sanctuary became a National Treasure, 26 buildings on and off the grounds were newly designated Important Cultural Properties, bringing the total, with 3 designated earlier, to one National Treasure and 29 Important Cultural Properties. You can compare buildings from different ages: the West Tower Gate of 1497, the Utsukushi-gozen-sha shrine of 1591, the Otabisho of 1837 and the portable-shrine storehouse of 1928. The West Tower Gate, facing Shijo-dori, is known as a symbol of Gion, and the shrine points visitors to the cherry blossoms of Maruyama Park in spring, the Gion Festival in summer, autumn leaves, and the Okera-mairi in winter.