Yasui Konpira-gū Shrine

In front of you is the strangest stone in Kyoto. It is about one and a half metres high and three metres wide, but you cannot actually see it: it is covered in thousands of white paper slips with wishes written on them. At its base is a hole just big enough for one person to crawl through.

1How it works

The ritual is precise. First you write on a paper slip, the katashiro, the tie you want to break or the one you hope to form. Then you crawl through the hole from front to back to cut bad ties: a relationship, an illness, a bad habit. Then you come back from back to front to draw in good ones. Finally, you stick the paper onto the stone. It is a living practice, and you may well see someone queuing with a very serious face.

2The emperor who cursed

Among others, the shrine honours the retired Emperor Sutoku. In 1156 he lost the Hōgen Rebellion and was exiled to Sanuki province, where he died in 1164 without ever returning to the capital. The disasters that followed were blamed on his resentful spirit, and Sutoku became one of the great vengeful spirits of Japan. According to tradition, during his exile he shut himself away at the Konpira shrine and renounced all his desires, and this is said to be the source of this place’s power to cut bonds.

A medieval chronicle says a lady close to him, Awa no Naishi, built a chapel in his memory; the present shrine grew out of a temple that moved here in 1695.

3What to look for

• The hole in the stone, polished by thousands of knees.
• The paper slips: many wishes are legible, but better not to read them.
• The votive plaques hanging around the courtyard.