Winter in Kyoto: A Two-Woman Trip for Good Fortune

It is truly a joy when a friend comes from afar to visit me.
We decided to meet in Kyoto, and since I live in the Kansai region and used to live in Kyoto, I enthusiastically planned our itinerary.
I figured she had already been to the famous spots, so I looked for hidden gems.
Places that wouldn't be too crowded.
And if possible, places that are both auspicious and fun.
This was back in February of last year.

How many years has it been since I last saw her?
We have been friends since elementary school, so it is a long-standing relationship.
Since it had been so long, we were both excited and met at Kyoto Station early.
We still had time before lunch, so we decided to visit one shrine first.

Our first spot for good fortune was Ichihime Shrine, a shrine for women.

It is a fair walk from Kyoto Station, but not an impossible distance.
We were so happy to be reunited and chatting that we arrived in no time.
Unlike typical tourist shrines, this one is small, and first-time visitors are often surprised to find it nestled beneath an apartment building.

The famous water, Ame-no-Manai, is one of the highlights.
It is said that if you drink this sacred water and offer a prayer, one wish from the bottom of your heart will come true.
Knowing we could take some of the water home, we both brought water bottles and were fully prepared.
I have even seen men drawing water there, so while it is a shrine for women, it is not restricted to women only.

It is a wonderful shrine where you can enjoy yourself while feeling purified, with cute Hime-daruma fortune slips and card-style amulets where you can have your name written.
And I have heard that the blessings are wonderful as well.

Since we decided to visit recommended good-fortune spots this time, the plan involved a lot of walking.
We are both experienced full marathon finishers, so we are strong walkers and had no issues with that.
But the weather...
It started to snow.

We decided to head back to Kyoto Station for a luxurious lunch at Wakuden inside Isetan.
Even though we used to sit at desks together in elementary school eating soft noodles, we deeply enjoyed the delicious flavors that only adults can appreciate.

It was a shame that the view from the counter window was not great due to the rain, but we were satisfied with the delicious Kyoto cuisine and chatted so much that it felt like we had already reached the climax of our trip.
However, the journey had only just begun.


Our next destination was Kenkun Shrine.
While riding the city bus, the snow we hoped would stop turned into rain and kept falling. Since the forecast didn't call for rain, neither of us had umbrellas, so we ended up buying plastic umbrellas at a supermarket near the bus stop.
Our first purchase of the day was matching plastic umbrellas.
Not exactly the kind of matching items I was hoping for.

Kenkun Shrine was founded in the second year of the Meiji era, making it relatively new for Kyoto.
The deity enshrined there is none other than the warlord Oda Nobunaga.
It is located on a small hill called Funaokayama, so after the rain stopped, we enjoyed a stroll with a great view of Kyoto city from the shrine grounds.

There were almost no tourists, so after a relaxed prayer, it was time for fortune slips.

I am not the type to be intimidated by rumors that you get bad luck slips all the time.

The result was 'Great Curse' (Daikyo).
It was a 'Great Curse' without a single cloud of doubt.
I believe that since I've hit rock bottom and have prayed and changed my mindset, only good things will happen from now on.

Now that we've gotten excited (did we get excited?), we head to our next destination, Imamiya Shrine.
It is within walking distance from Kenkun Shrine.
The blessing of Imamiya Shrine is, above all, 'Tama no Koshi' (marrying into wealth)!
It is a famous story that in the Edo period, Otama, the daughter of a greengrocer in Nishijin, caught the eye of Tokugawa Iemitsu, became his concubine, gave birth to Tsunayoshi, and wielded great power in the Ooku.
That is the origin of the term 'Tama no Koshi'.
It seems that because Otama never forgot her hometown of Nishijin and worked to restore Imamiya Shrine, which was the tutelary shrine of Nishijin, the shrine became associated with the blessing of marrying into wealth.
One thing you cannot miss on the shrine grounds is a strange stone called 'Ahokashisan'.
It is said that if you stroke this stone and then stroke a part of your body that is unwell, it will heal, or if you tap it three times, lift it while making a wish, and then stroke it three times and lift it again, your wish will come true if it feels lighter.

There are many highlights, such as the large, beautiful vermilion torii gate, the lush and refreshing shrine grounds, and the wish-granting stone, yet I only took one photo.
The only thing I photographed was the catfish carved into the base stone of the Munakata Shrine.

Although this is also a rare thing, there were other places that were more photogenic, so I wonder why I didn't take pictures of them.
Perhaps I was so shocked by the 'Great Curse' that I forgot to photograph anything else, but it is a mystery why I only photographed the catfish.
Munakata Shrine is said to have been built in the 7th year of Genroku.
The three Munakata goddesses enshrined there are also called Benten-sama, and it seems the catfish is carved there because it is a messenger of Benten-sama.
It is a shrine where you can really feel the history.

The rain had stopped, but it was February cold, and after walking a lot and getting tired, we took a break to warm up at the Aburimochi shop in front of the gate.

Aburimochi, which is made by grilling small rice cakes coated in kinako (soybean flour) over charcoal and dressing them in a white miso sauce, is something you can only get here.

Strangely enough, the Aburimochi shop was more crowded than Imamiya Shrine.

Even though I only took one photo at Imamiya Shrine, I took many photos of the Aburimochi.

According to the original plan, this was as far as we were going, but since we were able to get around faster than expected and still had energy and time, we took the city bus and the Randen train to Kurumazaki Shrine.
The local Randen train is recommended because it heightens the travel mood and is fun.

Kurumazaki Shrine has a Geino Shrine (Shrine for Performing Arts), and it seems to have quite a lot of blessings; just looking at the donated tamagaki (votive fences) is fun.

Kurumazaki Shrine also has a 'power stone handed down from ancient times that grants all wishes,' which is reassuring.
There is a place where people who have had their wishes granted donate stones, and when I looked there, I saw a stone that said, 'My serialization in Jump has been decided. Thank you very much.'
It seems that really! Big wishes! Can come true!

After praying, I drew an omikuji (fortune slip).
This omikuji is named after Kurumazaki, so it has poems related to cars written on it.

It seems my luck improved to 'Chukichi' (Middle Blessing) because the rain washed away my bad luck and I prayed repeatedly.

Our fun fortune-boosting tour was nearing its end, so we returned to Kyoto Station by JR and held a wrap-up meeting at Nakamura Tokichi before parting ways.

I actually wanted to have a parfait, but it was so cold that I chose the green tea soba instead.
It was delicious in its own right.

Our step count for today was 19,000.
A very fulfilling day has come to an end.
It's hard to say goodbye, but that's all for today; we left Kyoto after promising to meet again.
I reaffirmed that no matter how many times I visit Kyoto, I never get tired of it and can always discover new charms. It was a fun day!