There are lots of shrines in Japan, which dedicated to the Gods (Kamisama) they worship. Each shrine has a purpose. For example, we have heard about the Goddess of Food/Rice (Inari Kamisama) which is associated with foxes and statued as “Kitsune” (Japanese fox) at the Inari Shrine. Then we also know about the famous God of Delivery who is believed will protect the mothers and their babies along the delivery process, which associated with shiba dogs at the Suitengu Shrine. But I’ll talk about them at another time. I’m specially interested with one of the most unlikely shrine I’ve ever known, Tsuki Shrine.
TSUKI SHRINE
Tsuki Shrine is a shrine for Moon God. Moon God is a brother of the Sun Goddess. They don’t talk to each other – hence day and night. The Japanese believes that rabbit is a messenger of Moon God which “brings happiness”. And so the shrine has statues of Rabbits within it
TO GO VISIT THE TSUKI SHRINE
It’s located at Urawa-shuku, Saitama prefecture, Japan. To reach it, alight at Urawa Station, take exit at the West Gate and then walk about 10 minutes.
Additionally, there is a flea market that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every month in Urawa-shuku’s Tsuki Shrine (wikipedia.com). It looks like they sell various of products. There even has kimonos sold with a very bargain price! (see below pictures) I certainly want to go there once I have a chance! ^^
Sources:
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.h6.dion.ne.jp/~yuebing/040330/
http://raphael.doxos.com/2007/09/20/tsuki-shrine/
http://www.gojyaku.com/kimono/kottouiti/urawa/urawa.htm
[…] Davis’ young son… you can listen to extracts here. Looking Around the World pays a visit to the Tsuki or Moon God Shrine in Japan, where rabbits are particularly venerated – and Sarx has some beautiful photos of a […]
Thanks for your post! We saw your post and decided to visit it on our first day in Tokyo as a way of learning how to get around, and we enjoyed seeing the Tsuki Shrine. Very pleasant and peaceful especially compared to the other sites we saw.
I just reply it now, i know it’s very late for me to see this. That’s wonderful! I’m very glad to know that my post is useful for someone 🙂 I wish I can go there myself someday!
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