Yasaka Shrine: The Vermilion Heart of Gion
Why is it significant?
Stand at the foot of the stone steps on Shijo Dori and look up at the soaring two-story vermilion gate of Yasaka Shrine.
Key Facts
| Place | Yasaka Shrine: The Vermilion Heart of Gion |
|---|---|
| Address | 625 Gionmachi Kitagawa, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0073 |
| Geo Coordinates | 35.00370, 135.77850 |
| Audio Duration | ~1 min |
| Part of Walk | Kyoto's Sacred Paths: Gion Geishas, Wooden Temples, and Stone Zen Gardens |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand at the foot of the stone steps on Shijo Dori and look up at the soaring two-story vermilion gate of Yasaka Shrine. Founded in six hundred and fifty-six during the reign of Emperor Saimei, this vibrant Shinto sanctuary has stood as the spiritual guardian of eastern Kyoto for nearly fourteen centuries. Walk into the central courtyard and look at the open-air dance stage: it is hung with hundreds of white paper lanterns, each brush-painted with the names of local Kyoto teahouses, restaurants, and geiko houses that sponsor the shrine in exchange for blessings of commercial prosperity and artistic beauty. In the year eight sixty-nine, when a catastrophic plague struck the imperial capital of Heian-kyo, Emperor Seiwa ordered sixty-six sacred halberds erected here to appease the wrathful deity Susanoo-no-Mikoto. This solemn purification ritual gave birth to the Gion Matsuri, now one of the greatest cultural festivals in Japan. Turn south and walk down the quiet flagstones of Hanamikoji Dori.