Yasaka Shrine - Home of the Gion Festival

Photo: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Kyoto: Higashiyama and Gion on Foot, a free self-guided tour.

You have reached Yasaka Shrine, Gion's guardian shrine, called Gion-sha for most of its history - the whole district takes its name from it. Shrine tradition dates it to 656. Its chief deity is Susanoo, the unruly storm god of Japanese myth, honored here as a protector against epidemics. In 869, as plague swept the capital, a ritual was held to calm the angry spirits; that rite grew into the Gion Matsuri, which fills the city with towering festival floats every July.

The main hall joins the inner sanctuary and the worship hall under one sweeping roof, a style named Gion-zukuri after this shrine. Rebuilt in 1654, it was named a National Treasure in 2020. In front stands the dance stage, hung with lanterns bearing the names of donors, glowing softly at dusk.

Shrine manners are simple: rinse your hands at the water basin, toss a coin, bow twice, clap twice, make your wish, then bow once more.

Getting here: From the weeping cherry, walk west a couple of minutes; the park flows straight into the back of Yasaka Shrine, with the dance stage and main hall ahead.

Did you know?: The vermilion West Gate facing Shijo-dori dates from 1497, which makes it the oldest building in the shrine grounds.

Photo op: Leave by the West Gate, cross to the far side of the Higashioji-dori crossing, and turn around: the whole vermilion gate and its stone steps fit in one frame.

More on Wikipedia: Yasaka Shrine · Susanoo-no-Mikoto · Gion Matsuri

Yasaka Shrine - Home of the Gion Festival

Stops on this tour