A quiet Shrine, to end bad relationships and start good ones.
Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine is located in the Gion geisha district of Kyoto. You can find the entrance with a beautiful torii gate on a quiet street, between Kennin-ji Temple and Yasaka Pagoda.
The Shrine origins date back to the 7th century. Yasui Konpira-gu used to be a temple called Fuji-dera. This temple was loved by the Emperor Sutoku.
Fuji-dera temple was destroyed by the Onin war in 1467 and The Emperor Sutoku died in exile and was buried in Shikoku after a war. The Temple was replaced by Rengeji-in Temple from Uzumasa, Kyoto. In the early Meiji Period, there was separation of Buddhism from Shinto by the nationalistic, and the temple turned into Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine.
Yasui Konpira-gu enshrine the Emperor Sutoku, Omononushi no Kami from Konpira Shrine in Shikoku and the protective deity for ships and sailors.
Features
Yasui Konpira-gu become very popular among young women who visit to the shrine to perform a ritual of crawling through the hole.
On the Shrine’s ground, there is a power stone called the enkiri or enmusubi ishi, the divorce stone. It is believed that the large power stone with a hole answer your prayers to break up bad relationships and start good ones. It also can end disease or other harmful associations.
The stone is covered all over with a coat of white, paper amulets which is sold at the shrines office. Write down your wishes on it, then stick it onto the stone and crawl through the hole. One direction asks the deities to break up bad relationships, the other to start good ones.Usually each one crawl through in one direction and then crawl back again in the other.
Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine（安井金毘羅宮）
Address : 70 Benten-cho, Higashio-ji, Matsubara-agaru, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 605-0823
Hours : Open 24 hours; the amulets can only be purchased from 9:00 to 17:30
Admission : Free; the amulets from 100 yen
Access : 10-minute walk from Gion-Shijo station on the Keihan line