A Serene Oasis Alongside the Chaos of Takeshita

            In my short time in Japan so far, I have come across two Shinto shrines. These places of worship can be found across Japan, but the one found next to Takeshita Street was particularly striking. A hundred meters away from the packed, bustling streets of shops and pedestrians, the atmosphere shifts dramatically. Suddenly, few people can be found, and the area becomes nearly silent. Pass under the Torii gate pictured above and walk up a set of stone steps and it seems like you’ve entered another world. I wondered how such a stark contrast is preserved.

            This shrine is known as the Togo Jinja shrine. There is nobody there to maintain the shrine or watch over it, yet the space is immaculate – giving the impression the kami itself maintains the space. This location contained a number of features common to these shrines, each containing its own purpose.

            Shinto shrines are places of worship that can be found across Japan, and while the structures found at them can vary dramatically, Torii gates are one of the most commonly present. They represent entrance to a sacred space and they intuitively invoke a sense or importance even to someone without an understanding of the religious ideas they represent.

            After a significant set of stone stairs through the tamagaki, the fence surrounding the sacred inner space, we were met with an open courtyard. Here, the innermost features of the shrine are present. To the left, the haiden can be seen, where worshippers can make an offering and pray to the kami. Outside of this building is a donation box, or saisen-bako, where one tosses money before making a ritualistic prayer to the kami inside.

Above are the haiden and honden, which are not always separate, however they are in the Togo Jinja shrine. The honden, where the sacred objects that house the kami are kept, is off to the far left, out of frame of the courtyard image above.

            The lion-dog (shishi) statues outside the haiden are known as komaindu and are believed to ward evil out of the temple. One shishi is intentionally depicted with its mouth open in a silent “a”, while the other is closed in a silent “um”, to represent a perpetual sacred Buddhist utterance of “aum”.

Shown here behind the komaindu is an ema, where wishes of good fortune, such as in love or business, are left in hopes of gaining the kami’s favor.

            One particularly intriguing feature of the shrine was a rope with a large collection of papers tied onto it. The papers are omikuji and are fortune-telling strips of paper, that in this shrine can be purchased by unattended boxes a capsule machine nearby. The slips can foretell good or bad luck in varying severity, but tying the slip to a tree or sacred rope within the temple is believed to benefit the receiver regardless of their fortune. Above we see a large collection of these tied to a series of ropes within the courtyard.

            Through the doors to the right of our original entrance, is a cleansing trough, or temizuya. I was struck by the ornate design of the fountain and the calm manner in which it was routinely utilized. These are typically fountains or natural springs and are a location where one ritualistically cleanses oneself prior to entering the shrine. The ritual most often consists of picking up the ladle with one’s right hand and rinsing the left, changing hands to rinse your right hand, changing hands again to pour water into your left hand and rinse your mouth, followed finally by tipping the dipper up to rinse the handle before placing it back. It’s important to make sure the water you use to cleanse runs out to the sides of the fountain to ensure the maintained purity of the fountain itself.

             While none were witnessed during our time here, the shrine itself is maintained by one or more Shinto priests, who routinely maintain the sacred space, collect donations, refill the omikuji supplies, and close the shrine in the evenings. Special events are held here as well, such as new years celebrations. While the stark shift in atmosphere between Takeshita street and Togo Jinja can be surprising at first, walking through the shrine and taking the time to observe the features within imparts an aura that demands respect, even for those who are not followers of Shinto.

Works Cited

japan-guide.com. “Shinto Shrines.” Japan-Guide.Com, 17 Apr. 2018, http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2059.html.

Manabu, Toya. “Insider’s Guide to Shintō Shrines.” Nippon.Com, 2019, http://www.nippon.com/en/series/insider%E2%80%99s-guide-to-shinto-shrines/. Accessed 21 July 2019.

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