Exploring Kamigamo Shrine
Sacred ground, symbolic power point, place of natural spiritual strength
Serving to protect Kyoto from natural disasters and epidemics caused by the curses of ghosts taking revenge on this world, the shrine is still one of the best places in Kyoto to experience and explore the world of ancient Shinto beliefs and motifs.
The precinct of this shrine is home to the God of Thunder and one can sense a strong power residing in the low hills covered with huge trees behind the main buildings where the clear, sacred waters of the Mitarashi stream well up. The God of Thunder is the protector of agricultural growth (and keeps away angry ghosts). This explains why there are more than 2,000 Kamo-related shrines throughout Japan.
To find the inner precincts of Kamigamo Shrine, go through the first torii gate, near the bus stop. Keep walking north along the path that leads through the beautiful lawn. You may see many people strolling and relaxing here; the lawn looks much more like a park than the outer precincts of a shrine. As you approach the second torii at the north end of the lawn, you can see in the forest the beautiful cypress bark roof of the main shrine building, which has been designated as a National Treasure. Leading to the inner, sacred part of the main shrine area, but roped off, is a bridge called the Hashi-dono. It is used only by the virgin princess of the important Aoi Matsuri Festival procession held in May every year, which ends at the shrine. No one else has ever crossed this bridge!
The shrine also has large open areas of raked white sand and two perfect cones of sand in front of an elevated wooden platform called the Saiden. White sand or gravel in Shinto shrines is used to mark sacred ground. The cones are for moon viewing, and one can imagine the long, silent shadow of the cones stretching west and then east during the passing of the moon overhead.
They are also symbolic of the two heaps of salt that are commonly used to purify the entrance to certain establishments in Japan, including restaurants, bar and homes. In a shrine, more than anywhere, purification is essential. This month’s highlight takes place on September 9th, when you will have a chance to see one of Kyoto’s most unusual festivals, Karasu Zumo (Crow Wrestling). In ancient times, the inhabitants of the Kamo area were called Karasu-zoku, the Crow Tribe. In the annual festival that re-enacts one of the old tribal rites, two Shinto priests in ritual costumes shout the crow’s raucous “caw, caw” as they jump from side to side, between two small mounds of sand. After this humorous ceremony, twenty local boys engage in sumo matches.
If you turn left (east) at the southern torii as you leave Kamigamo Shine, you will see one of Kyoto’s most charming old residential districts. Along the stream that runs from the shrine there is a neat row of houses with small entrance bridges and white walls. These houses were originally built as residences for the shrine priests. If you look carefully, you will see water intake and outlet ports under the clay wall of each house.
Access: From Kyoto Station or Kitayama Subway Staion, take the Kyoto City Bus #4 and get off at Kamigamo Jinjamae. From Kitaoji Subway Station, take the Kyoto City Bus #37, and get off at Kamigamo Misonobashi.
https://www.kamigamojinja.jp