When you sever bad ties, your luck begins to move in mysterious ways.

Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine boasts overwhelming fame as a spot for severing ties.

Kyoto is dotted with places associated with severing ties, such as the Kanrin-no-Ido well and the Okumiya of Kifune Shrine.

People want to sever ties for various reasons: to break free from illness, to quit drinking or smoking, or to stop gambling. However, for many who visit this place, the wish is surely to break away from bad human relationships, especially those involving romance.

■ Visual impact and experiential worship

When you think of Yasui Konpira-gu, you think of that igloo-like stone monument often shown on television. It is officially called the 'Enkiri Enmusubi Monument.' Its appearance, covered in countless paper charms and looking like a crystal of resentment, is overwhelmingly impactful.

You crawl through the hole in the center while focusing on your wish to sever bad ties, and then crawl back through from the other side to wish for good ones.

The fact that it is a ritual where you experience your wish with your body, rather than just praying, is likely why it attracts so many people.

The waiting line is often filled with young women, and seeing friends chatting happily is a common sight.

However—

■ The karma of people written on Ema

When you walk around looking at the Ema (votive tablets) in the shrine grounds, the atmosphere changes completely.

- May [Name] become mine alone

- May he break up with that woman soon

- May my son's wife leave our house

...and so on; there are quite a few wishes that make you want to look away.

It is a different dimension from the heartwarming wishes like 'May my hair grow' at Mikami Shrine in Sagano.

You can even feel the obsession and resentment there, and you are struck by a strange sense of reality, thinking, 'Humans are scary creatures.'

Of course, only the person themselves knows what they are wishing for.

I am just imagining things while watching the visitors chatting happily, but this gap is precisely the mysterious charm of this place.

■ A shrine that actually became famous recently

While it is now synonymous with shrines for severing ties, its popularity is surprisingly new.

The era was the bubble economy.

In Kyoto, land grabbing was rampant, and temples and shrines with land were no exception. Yasui Konpira-gu, which had few visitors, faced a crisis of survival.

The move the chief priest made was

to bring the 'blessing of severing ties' to the forefront

as a strategy.

Focusing on the fact that it is a place associated with Emperor Sutoku and that there had been a belief in severing ties since ancient times, the 'Severing and Connecting Ties Monument' was created as a device to symbolically experience this.

Furthermore, because just severing ties was too negative,

connecting good ties after severing bad ones

was added as a positive meaning, which resonated with many people.

Combined with the experiential nature of visitors using their bodies to make wishes, this idea was a brilliant success.

Now, it has become a popular shrine where visitors never cease, and it has reached the point where people say, 'When it comes to severing ties, it's Yasui Konpira-gu.'

■ A shrine that changed tourist routes

This popularity also influenced tourist traffic flow.

Kiyomizu-dera → Yasaka Shrine → Gion

In addition to the classic route of

Kennin-ji → Yasui Konpira-gu → Rokudo area

it is said that a new route, like a tour of the otherworld, has taken hold.

■ If you curse someone, dig two graves

However, you must be careful with extreme wishes.

As the saying goes, "If you curse someone, dig two graves," it is said that negative emotions eventually come back to you.

When writing down your wishes, it is best to add a little kindness.

■ A place even psychics couldn't approach?

As an aside, there is an anecdote that when the well-known psychic Aiko Gibo visited for a program recording, she was so overwhelmed by the presence of "human karma" the moment she entered the shrine grounds that she could not reach the monument, and the footage was cut.

Regardless of the truth of this, it is certain that it is a place where such strong human emotions gather.

Resentment and prayer, severance and rebirth.

A place where the depths of human emotion seem to be visualized—that is Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine.

It is a spot that is a bit different from the glamorous tourist destinations of Kyoto, one that makes you straighten your posture.

When you visit, please try to face what you wish to sever in silence.