Glorious autumn sunshine, Kyoto, and the season for Shinto festivals – what could be finer. Amongst the festivals this weekend was the Taisai (Big Festival) of Yasui Konpira-gu. This is when the kami spirit is transferred temporarily into a mikoshi (portable palanquin) which is paraded around the parish in an annual rite of renewal and solidarity.
The shrine is set in the heart of the geisha area of Gion. Next to it is a Love Hotel, and it’s close to the Zen temple of Kennin-ji. It’s a quintessential Japanese setting.
The shrine is famous for promoting enkiri enmusubi – the breaking of bad relationships and the making of good ones. This has to do with a rock through which one is supposed to crawl. One direction is to ensure the breaking of a bad relationship, the reverse brings good luck in forging a new one. Before doing so, you should fill in an ofuda piece of paper stating your aim, then stick it on the rock. While crawling through, you keep your mind on your intended goal.
While the mikoshi parade was setting up, there was a huge long queue of people waiting to make or break a relationship, mainly young girls. There were also plenty of startling ema (votive plaques) on show. The wife of a philandering husband not only publicly named the woman he’d had an affair with, but added the address and phone numbers of the mistress and the hope that she’d die soon!
Yasui Konpira-gu is also famous for its ema museum, which was closed during the festival, though on display are a number of ema by famous visitors to the shrine together with some representative examples from the past.
The parade itself was a lively affair, with kagura court music and shishi lion dance. The eye-catching Heian costumes lend colour and elegance to the affair, and given the warmth of the autumn sunshine everyone was in high spirits. October is traditionally a time of harvest and well-being in Japan. What better time to celebrate?!
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