Visits Increase at Japan's Only Weather Shrine
Tokyo's Koenji district is known for its cafes, bars, used clothing shops and live music venues. It is also home to Japan's only shrine dedicated to the weather.
And recently, as climate change brings more extreme weather to Japan, this shrine is becoming increasingly popular.
Called Kisho Jinja, the weather shrine is located on the grounds of the larger Koenji Hikawa Shrine, which can be found on a hill to the southeast of Koenji Station.
At Japanese shrines, visitors usually write their wishes and prayers on wooden plaques, called ema, which are left hanging with other ema at the shrine. At Kisho Jinja, people write wishes for good weather — maybe for an outdoor wedding or for another special event.
The ema at Kisho Jinja are unusual because they are shaped like traditional wooden sandals called geta. This is because of an old game children played to predict the weather. They would kick off a geta sandal, and if it landed the right way up, it meant good weather. But if it landed upside down — it meant bad weather.
Among the lucky charms on sale at the shrine are some shaped like teru-teru bozu — the traditional handmade dolls that Japanese children hang in windows to wish for sunny weather. With their big white heads and sheet-like bodies, they look like ghosts!
Recently, though, people are praying for relief from more serious weather conditions. This summer, like the year before, Japan saw record-breaking high temperatures, and typhoons have also become stronger and more intense.
Daishin Kontani, a priest at the shrine who is also a certified weather forecaster, told The Guardian that in recent years, Japan has also seen an increase in flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain. He believes more people who are concerned about climate change are coming to the shrine to pray for stable weather.
Mikako Matsui, Koenji Hikawa's head priest, also told The Guardian: "As climate change is the result of human activities, it's incumbent on us to work together to do something about it using human knowledge."
