The shrine where Japanes-style vow renewal is available: Kumano Nyakuoji Shrine (熊野若王子神社)

#1 Kumano Nyakuoji Shrine (熊野若王子神社)

Here is the very first shrine where you can renew your vows in Japanese-style! 

This is the first time I show a shrine to you, so I will introduce the Kumano Nyakuoji Shrine with some manners applying at every shrine. At first, before worshipping a tori, a gateway at the entrance to a Shinto shrine, bow slightly.

The tori of the Kumano Nyakuoji Shrine.

Next, rinse your mouth and hands with fresh water at Temizu-ya/Chouzu-ya, the purification fountain. It is usually close to a tori. 

Temizu-ya/Chouzu-ya(手水舎)

--How to purify your hands and mouth--

1. Be ready for taking out a handkerchief.

2. Dip up water with your right hand using hishaku, a ladle.

3. Rinse your left hand.

4. Shift it from right to left hand and rinse your right one.

5. Ladle water into your left hand with your right hand, and rinse your mouth. Don't transfer water directly with a ladle to your mouths. 

6. Rinse your left hand again.

7. Hold the ladle vertically and rinse it by poring water over its shaft.

8. Put it back on the original position.
※It is desirable to purify with just one scoop of water you dipped up first on all steps.

Bento, box lunches, and light meals were sold in the precincts of the Shrine at the time. 

You can eat them and rest sitting on benches.

Honden (本殿): Main shrine building

Third, go to worship service.

--How to worship at a shrine--

1. Take some steps toward a hall of worship and bow slightly.

2. Make a money offering to an offertory box and ring a bell.

3. Bow deeply two time .

4. Clap your hands twice.

5. Pray peacefully.

6. Bow deeply once and go off.

Tips: 

In Japan, there's a superstition that offering a five yen coin bring good luck because the pronunciation of five yen in Japanese, go en (五円) , is homophone with go en (御縁). "En" of 御縁 means causal connection or relationship, and "go"of that is a respectful prefix. Therefore, many Japanese offer a five yen coin. Additionally, a fifty yen coin is considered as more lucky than a five yen coin.  That is because the Japanese for "fifty yen" is pronounced gojuu en (五十円) , and is the same pronunciation as the word meaning "quintuple". It is thought that lucky will become five times. On the other hand, a ten yen coin tends to be avoided to offer. A ten yen coin is actually pronounced juu en(十円); however, "ju" is also pronounced "tou". Tou is homophone with distant relation(遠縁), and that is why a ten yen coin is unfavorable as an offering.

In almost all shrines, there are omikuji,  sacred lots, in front of the shrine office.

 There are adorable omikuji in Kumano Nyakuoji Shrine.

Yatagarasu, a mythological black bird called a "mythical crow", considered to be a messenger of this shrine.

 Yatagarasu is three-legged crow.

After enjoying omikuji, it can be used a lovely ornament in your rooms.

The general seven outline for fortunes on omikuji:

daikich (大吉): best luck

chukichi (中吉): good luck

shokichi (小吉): average good luck
kichi (吉): average luck

suekichi (末吉): a little luck

kyo (凶): bad luck

daikyo (大凶): worst luck

※There are various theories on the order and variety of the fortunes.

The omikuji I drew said that shokuchi (小吉).

 As you see the center of the omikuji paper above, letters are written from right to left; 吉小. Originally, Japanese letters are usually written vertically and from right to left. Affected by European and American language, letters gradually became to be written from left to right and horizontally we know today.　

Finally, when you leave a shrine, worship a tori, don't forget to turn around and bow slightly in the same way as you come.

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Adress: 2, Nyakuoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoso-shi, Kyoto

Access: Take Kyoto City Bus and get off at Nanzenji / Eikando Mae (南禅寺・永観堂前) or Higashi Tennoucho (東天王町). 5 minutes walk from each bus stop

Open hours: all day (the shrine office: AM8:30〜PM5:00)

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Here is the starting point of Tetsugaku no Michi, Philosopher's Walk.

Autumn leaves are beautiful around the shrine.

If you are interested in Japanese-style vow renewal at the shrine, visit our website and submit the application form. http://wrappedinjapan.jp