Today I’ll tell you about a shrine in Kyoto. This shrine is not particularly famous and I didn’t know about it before I started living in Kyoto. It is dedicated to blessings for marriage, having children and safe childbirth.
Okazaki-jinja is related to rabit and you can see some rabbit statue. In addition, you can buy Omamaori (protective charms) and Omikuji (fortune slips) with rabbit symbols on them. It is quite rare to see rabbit symbols on shrine and temple related goods, so I was very excited to get some!
A small shrine in Kyoto.
Okazaki-jinja is not large so it doesn’t take much time to visit. If you are visiting there on your trip, it is not a priority place, so you can stop by on the way to Chion-in, Nanzen-ji or other places.
The shrine after you passed the gate.
As you can see in the picture, you will be welcomed by two rabbit statues right after you enter the shrine.
Cute rabbit statues!!
As well as the rabbit statues in the picture above, there are several more rabbit statues in Okazaki-jinja.
Each rabbit is slightly different, but they are all very cute! I loved them very much.
Rabbit shaped omikuji.
Omikuji are traditionalJapanese fortune slips and you can buy them at shrines and temples.
Usually the paper tells your future about your financial aspect, business, travel, love life, childbirth and so on.
In Okazaki-jinja, the omikuji paper is in a rabbit shaped case. You can bring the rabbit home. But some people leave the rabbit Omikuji at the shrine.
The rabits sit next to each other and, it looks so pretty!!
Rabbit symbol in Goshuin!!
I got a Goshuin, and it had a rabbit stamp on it! I loved it.
If you have time to visit a minor small shrine, and if you love pretty things, I recommend you to go to Okazaki-jinja!
Today I’ll tell you about my experience when I visited Hase-dera, a temple in Nara. I visited there in November 2024. And I loved the calming atmosphere of the place!! (It was a pity that it was cloudy…)
A venerable temple in a small town among the mountains…
Hase-dera is a relatively famous temple, at least to people who are interest in Japanese history like me. So I was a little bit surprised when I got off the train at the nearest station because it was a small town surrounded by mountains.
However, as I walked towards the main entrance of the temple, I thought the surrounding mountains and the small town suited the atmosphere of the temple.
Entrance of Hase-dera(長谷寺).
The main gate of Hase-dera
The temple is large and you have to go up many stairs, so you may get tired when you reach the main building. I got very tired…
As soon as you pass the main gate, you face to the stairs.
The stairs from up.
But once you are done with the stairs, the air is refreshing, because you are halfway up a mountain and the temple grounds are calming to walk around.
Refreshing view from the balcony.
When you climb the stairs, you reach the main hall.
Inside the main hall.
The main hall from the outside.
The main hall has a large balcony. You can see the small town from there.
The view is refreshing!!
Since it was autumn, some leaves turned into red, yellow and orange!! I love autumn leaves, so I was satisfied to see the view.
I was lucky to see the flower art(I’m not sure…).
There was a section where flowers were all over the stairs.
I think it was a temporary exhibition but I enjoyed it! According to the Hase-dera homepage, there are many flowers in spring and summer, and you can check the “Flower & Event schedule”. So I think people who love flowers and nature would enjoy visiting Hase-dera!!
I got Goshuin!!
I loved this place and temple, so I want to visit Hase-dera again in another season!!
Hi, everyone. Today I will tell you about futher information about Goshuin.
What contains in Goshuin?
Usually, a Goshuin conteins things like below.
a red stamp
the name of the temple or shrine
the name of the god they believe in
the date of your vivit
It is written in Japanese ink called sumi and brush. It is interesting to look at the prosses when they write Goshuin, so I understand that you want to take pictures or make a video, but many temples and shrines prohibit it. So please make sure to check there are no sign that forbid photography.
About the date
The date is written in kanji, so I think you can’t read it if you are not familier with Japanese. Another interesting fact is that the year is not written in Westen calendar.
Japan has its own calendar system based on the reign of the Emperor. It is called gengo.
For exampe, 2025 is the 7th year of Reiwa era. The era before Reiwa was Heisei. Heisei era lasted for 31 years and then the Emperor at the time abdicated.
This system has continued for about 1,400 years, and there have been 248 different gengo.
Just like the gengo system, there are many unique traditional systems and culture in Japan!
Hi, enerone! Today I will tell you about Goshuin-cho. Goshuin-cho is a special notebook for collecting Goshuin. If you are not familiar with Goshuin, look at this page.(link)
I started to collect Goshuin when I was a child, so now I have four Goshuin-cho!
My first Goshuin-cho
My parents bought me my first Goshuin-cho when I was 12.
My father is interested in Japanese temples and shrines, so we often visited Kyoto on family trip. When I was 12, my family visited Kyoto during summer vacation. We visited Ryoan-ji (temple), which is famous for its garden with 15 rocks. At the temple we found a cool Goshuin-cho. I think I already knew about Goshuin at that time so I told my parents that I wanted to collect Goshuin. Then my parents bought one for me and one for my sister.
I started to collect Goshuin!! From then on, I started to carry my Goshuin-cho to almost every trip in Japan.
cover of my first Goshuin-cho
My second Goshuin-cho
I bought my second Goshuin-cho when I was 19.
I really love the design of the second Goshuin-cho!! I think it is very cool and elegant. I got this at Izumo-taisha(shrine), which is a famous and important shrine. I went to Izumo during summer vacation with my family.
Izumo is a very famous shrine and I always wanted to visit there. But I knew it will be not easy to go to Izumo again because Izumo is far away from my house and not easy to access. So I planned to buy a new Goshuin-cho there. When I saw the design, I loved it so much that immediately decided to buy it!
By the way, some of you might think that it took me a long time to get the second book. The reason is the COVID-19 pandemic. I couldn’t visit temples and shrines during high school because of the pandemic. But after I entered college at Kyoto and the pandemic was over, I started to collect Goshuin again!! I’m glad I can visit many places again!
Cover of my second Goshuin-cho
Back of my second Goshuin-cho
My third and fourth Goshuin-cho
I got the third and forth Goshun-cho at the same day.
I bought them during my trip to Nikko-toshogu last winter. Nikko-toshogu is also a famous shrine. It is famous for the “three wise monkeys” or “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.
I always wanted to visit Nikko, too. But Nikko is also far away from my house and not easy to acces for me. So I wanted to buy my new Goshuin-cho there. But unforunatly I didn’t like the design so much… But I bought it anyway.
This is my third Goshuin-cho.
Soon after I bought the third, I visited the temple next to Nikko-toshogu. Then I found a really really cool and beautiful Goshuin-cho…!
It was a deep red notebook with a golden dragon. I wasn’t sure if I should buy it because I bought one literally 10 minutes earlier. But I loved it as much as the second Goshuin-cho and I decided to buy it.
This is my fourth Goshuin-cho.
I ‘m collecting Goshuin with my third one now. So I didn’t start to use the fourth but I’m looking forward to carry my forth one because I will be excited every time I get a new Goshuin by seeing the design!!
My personal struggles about Goshuin-cho
I have two major struggles about Goshuin-cho.
Do I use both sides of the notebook?
Carrying Goshuin-cho limits my choices of bags I can use
Do I use both side of the notebook?
The structure of Goshuin-cho is a bit different from the notebooks you use at school. There are front pages and back pages. However, since the characters of the Goshuin are written with ink and a brush, the Goshuin on the front can show through from the back. Therefore, it is difficult to decide whether to have the Goshuin written on the back page as well.
I personally like my Goshun-cho to be organized, so I didn’t want to use the back pages. But I also have specific tastes in Goshuin-cho desigh. Therefore I couldn’t find the second Goshuin-cho for a while and I ended up using the back pages of my first Goshuin-cho.
I can’t use tiny hand bags because I can’t carry my Goshuin-cho with them…
As a girl in my twenties, I have some interest in fashion. But when I carry my Goshuin-cho, I can’t use my tiny pretty bags. It is not a serious problem, but visiting temples and shrines is my hobby, so I usually want to wear my favorite clothes and take some pictures there. Sometimes I feel inconvenient to carry my Goshuin-cho because I want to use the small bags to complete my look.
You can buy Goshuin-cho at general stores
I personally recommend you to buy Goshuin-cho at temples and shrines, but you can buy them at general stores as well.
You can get them easily, especially in Kyoto! I saw many designs of Goshuin-cho at stores in Kyoto. I liked some of them. Some are made by wood(the pages are still paper). Others are made of traditional Japanese papre called washi. Some designs are based on Japanese traditional patterns, and others contain modern motifs. There are also Goshin-cho with anime characters!
I like Goshun-cho in dark blue or green color with simple pattern, so I buy them at tempes and shrines I visit.
There are many kinds of Goshuin-cho and you can find them in various places. I think you can find your favorite Goshuin-cho, so if you are intersted in collecting Goshuin, try to find one that suits you!!
Today I will tell you about my favorite place to see cherry blossoms in Kyoto.
I think seeing beautiful cherry blossoms is a valuable raeson to visit Japan on spring. However cherry blossoms are common in Japan, so there are many places to see them. Let me introduce my favorite place in Kyoto.
I went there two years in a row!
Why my favorite?
I have a few reasons.
You can see many cherry blossoms
It is not too crowded compared to other places in Kyoto in this season
You can take temple + cherry blossoms picture
Danigo-ji is a large temple.
Daigo-ji is a large temple and there are more than 700 cherry trees. Also there are various kinds of cherry trees.
It is a little bit far from the center of Kyoto. Kyoto is full of people during cherry blossom seson. So it gets very crowded at famous temples. I hate crowded places, ーespecially when its crowded with tourists－ so I think this is an important point. Although it’s still a bit crowded during cherry blossom season, Daigo-ji is just the right place to enjoy the bloom without being too annoyed by people.
Beautiful picture!
I took a picture at my first visit to Daigo-ji and I loved it so much, because it was a perfect combo of the cherry blossom and Japanese pagpda.
I also took many pictures of cherry blossoms. I took them with my smat phone, so you are able to take photos like this as well!!
About Daigoji
Goshuin
I got the Goshuin!
Daido-ji is more than 1100 year old!
According to Tthe homepage of Daigo-ji, it’s one of the world cultural heritage. The five-storied pagpda, which is national treasure, is more than 1100 years old. There are also many treasures from many different eras.
Hi, everyone! If you are planning a trip to Japan, I think some of you might be interested in Japanese temples and shrines. When you visit famous temples and shrines, you may see people getting red stamps in thier notebooks. They are getting Goshuin!! I’m a Goshuin collector myself, so today I will write about Goshuin and recommend you to try getting some during your trip in Japan!
What is Goshuin?
Goshuin is a sacred red stamp!
御朱印 This is how Goshuin is written in Kanji .(Kanji are one of the Japanese characters.)
御 is a character used for sacred things or for showing respect.
朱 means red.(This coller is often used in Japanese Shrines.) 印 means stamp, so 朱印 means red stamp.
As you can guess from the meanings of each character, Goshuin is a sacred red stamp that you can get at Japanese Shrines and Temples.
It looks like the picture below.
Why do I started to collect Goshuin?
I have a few reasons for collecting Goshuin.
I’m interested in Japanese traditional culture
I love visiting temples and shrines, and I can recall the experiences at the places by looking back the Goshuin.
I love collecting things
If you are interested in Japanese spritual culture and plan to visit more than two different temples and shrines, I recommend to get Goshuin.
How to get one.
Get a Gosyuin-cho
I recommend you to get a Goshuin-cho, Which is a special notebook for collecting Goshuin. You can buy them at famous or big temples/shrines. Some turists get Goshuin on thier own notebooks but I think it is not very respectful. Also, many temples/shrins have cool designed goshuin-cho, and I think you would be excited to get one if you like Japanese desgn.
You have to pay!!
You have to pay to get Goshuin!
Usually, Goshuin conteins red stamps and handwriting of the name of the temple/shrine, the name of the god they believe in and tha date you visited. You gave your Goshun-cho to the temple/shrine at the dedicated counter and they write Goshuin on your note book.
It is usually 500 yen. How ever,there are spetial edition Goshuin such as seasonal or mamorial Goshuin. They are more expencive and you have to pay more than 1000 yen.
