Okazaki Shrine — Attraction in Kyoto

Святыня Оказаки посвящена двум божествам: Susanoo-no-Mikoto и Kushinada-hime. Боги бракасочетания и деторождения. Статуи, которые охраняют святыню от злых духов - кролики. Данное животное было выбрано потому что они всегда приносят большой приплод.

Okazaki Jinja, shrine dedicated to two kami, Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Kushinada-hime, gods of marriage and easy childbirth. The guardians of the shrine are rabbits, selected because of their well known ability to produce many descendants…

Okazaki Shrine is one of the four shrines for the purpose of protecting Heiankyo (ancient capital of Japan). The shrine was built when the capital was transferred from Nara to Kyoto in 794 AD.

The main building of OKazaki Shrine was rebuilt in 869 after damage from a fire. On that occasion, new gods were brought from Himeji city in Hyogo prefecture and enshrined at the shrine. According to the Japanese classic, the Heian Monogatari, Okazaki Shrine was one of the 41 government shrines.

Okazaki Shrine has served as a shrine for safe birth since 1178, and the Ujiko-sai festival is held every October in celebration. The rabbit is considered a helper spirit of Okazaki Shrine. This is because many rabbits lived in the mountain behind the shrine. There are many sculptures of rabbits on the precincts (they are seen on pedestals of guardian dogs, in dedicatory lanterns, and above doorways). Notably, there is a black granite statue of a rabbit in the washbasin. This rabbit statue is for the believer who wishes to have a baby.

Okazaki Shrine is also a shrine for marriage. This is because the famous heroic god Susano Ono Mikoto, who is enshrined at the shrine, slayed a demon to marry the goddess Kushi Inada Hime.

For these reasons, many couples hold their wedding at...

Despite getting there later than I wanted to, there was no crowd at all. I came here years ago in 2018 and it was very crowded. So I felt lucky that I got to visit a second time without the crowd. This is a shrine that locals visit to pray for safe childbirth, so newlyweds often like to visit this shrine and pray. There was so many cute bunny statues at each corner. The tiny pink and white ones were especially cute, they look like a bunny army ready for battle! You can ring the shrine's bell at the center and rub the black bunny belly that is to the side with its own alter for good luck in childbirth. I got some good luck talisman and charms to take home, they just look so cute! Some are for good luck in studies, health, safe travels, and meeting your soul mate, etc. I enjoyed some quite time here for sure before heading to my next...

I wanted to go there after seeing many people promoting this place on Instagram. I thought I would see a huge rabbit-themed shrine and hoped to see many bunny-related objects (statues, ema, omikuji, ...). So let's be honest and give an accurate review, far from social media's glitters. You can indeed see rabbit statues, find rabbit omikuji, and the ema's illustration is, of course, a bunny. But that's about it. This place is really small, crowded most of the time (so, not peacefull at all), and the rabbit-related objects are not that numerous. 15 minutes are more than enough to see everything there. Kind of a deception. A place to see once, just to buy cute souvenirs and to brag in front of you...