Confidence
| Field | Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shrine name | 98% | Center calligraphy clearly reads 安井金比羅宮 in confident brush. The lower-right red square seal in tensho also reads 安井金比羅宮. The pictorial deity figure in the upper-left red round seal is the shrine's signature stamp (commonly read as Emperor Sutoku, the principal deity). |
| Date | 97% | Left column reads 令和五年五月廿九日 = 29 May 2023, all characters legible. Same Mt. Inari pilgrimage day as entries 06–11. |
Identification
- Name (Japanese): 安井金比羅宮
- Name (Romanized): Yasui Konpiragū
- Type: Shinto shrine (jinja-gū)
- Location: Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto — on Yasui-Kitamonzen-dōri, just south of Gion and west of Maruyama Park
- Date received: 令和五年五月廿九日 = 29 May 2023
Reading the goshuin
| Element | Reading | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 奉拝 | Hōhai — "humbly worshipped" | Top right, brush |
| 安井金比羅宮 | Yasui Konpiragū — shrine name | Center, large brush |
| Pictorial deity figure | Stylized Emperor Sutoku in courtly robes | Upper-left, red round seal |
| Tensho seal | Shrine name in seal script | Lower-right red square seal |
| 令和五年五月廿九日 | 29 May 2023 | Left column, brush |
About the shrine
Yasui Konpiragū is one of Japan's most famous shrines for 縁切り・縁結び (enkiri / enmusubi) — severing bad relationships and forging good ones. The "ties" interpreted broadly include:
- Bad romantic partners or relationships
- Bad habits (smoking, drinking, gambling, addiction)
- Illness one wants to be free of
- Toxic workplaces, friendships, social ties
- Bad luck or unwanted spiritual influences
After severing the bad tie, the same ritual immediately invites a good tie to take its place — so the shrine is simultaneously about leaving and about beginning.
The famous landmark — 縁切り縁結び碑 (Enkiri-Enmusubi-Ishi)
The shrine's most iconic feature is a large stone monolith covered entirely in white paper prayer slips (形代, katashiro) on the shrine grounds. The stone has a hole in the middle.
The ritual
- Buy a katashiro prayer slip at the shrine office (small donation).
- Write your wish on the paper — what bad tie you want to sever, and what good tie you want to forge.
- Hold the slip and crawl through the stone's hole from front to back to sever a bad tie.
- Then crawl back through from back to front to forge a good tie.
- Paste your slip onto the stone, where it joins the layers of katashiro that already cover the entire surface.
The stone is essentially invisible under the layered prayer slips — only the entrance and exit of the hole remain visible. This is the iconic image you'll see in any photo of Yasui Konpiragū.
Enshrined deities
- 崇徳天皇 (Emperor Sutoku, 1119–1164) — the principal deity. Sutoku was forced to abdicate, lost the Hōgen Rebellion (1156) to his brother Go-Shirakawa, was exiled to Sanuki Province (modern Kagawa), and died there in bitterness in 1164. According to legend, he wrote his name in his own blood on Buddhist sutras and renounced all worldly attachments during his exile, vowing to become a vengeful spirit. The shrine's tie-cutting tradition derives from this — Sutoku is said to help worshippers sever the kinds of attachments he himself severed in exile.
- 大物主神 (Ōmononushi-no-Kami) — the Konpira deity, originally enshrined at Konpira-gū on Mt. Zōzu in Sanuki, where Emperor Sutoku encountered the deity during his exile. A guardian of seafaring, commerce, and travel.
- 源頼政 (Minamoto no Yorimasa, 1104–1180) — Heian-era warrior-poet and one of the early figures of the Genpei War.
Yasui Konpiragū vs. Konpira-gū at Kotohira
Don't confuse this Kyoto shrine with the larger and more famous 金刀比羅宮 (Kotohira-gū) in Kagawa Prefecture, on Mt. Zōzu in Sanuki — the original Konpira shrine. They share the Konpira deity (Ōmononushi) but the Kyoto one (this one) is principally a Sutoku worship site with the Konpira deity added; the Kagawa one is principally a Konpira-deity site.
What it's known for / the blessing
The shrine is uniquely associated with:
- 悪縁切り (akuen-kiri) — severing bad ties; the primary reason most visitors come
- 良縁結び (ryōen-musubi) — forging good ties; especially marriage and romantic relationships
- 習慣からの解放 (shūkan kara no kaihō) — breaking free from harmful habits (smoking, drinking, etc.)
- 病気からの脱出 (byōki kara no dasshutsu) — escape from illness
The shrine is unusually frank about its purpose — many shrines offer "good fortune" in vague terms, but Yasui Konpiragū invites you to name specifically what you want to break free from, in your own handwriting on the katashiro.