Ebara Shrine, Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Japan
Ebara Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Shinagawa ward of Tokyo, featuring a torii gate, a central courtyard, and a main hall for worship. The grounds are lined with mature trees that shade the path leading to the main hall and separate the space from the surrounding city.
Founded in 709 when the deity Takaokami was transferred from Niu-kawakami Shrine in Yamato Province to Minami-Shinagawa. In 1029, Toyouke and Amaterasu were invited from Ise Shrine; in 1274, Gozu Tenno came from Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto. The shrine was later moved to its present site and renamed Ebara Shrine in 1875.
The shrine is also known as Tennō-sha and Kifune Daimyōjin, and is called the "Tennō of the South". It is one of the seven shrines of the Tōkai Seven Lucky Gods and enshrines Ebisu. In early June, the Tennō Festival features a portable shrine with a divine mask carried into the sea off Tennōzu, popularly called the Kappa Festival.
The shrine is a four-minute walk from Shinbamba Station on the Keikyu Line. It stands on the north bank of the Meguro River, near its mouth, so the approach crosses the lower reach of the river. The grounds are open during the day; quiet behaviour and modest dress are expected.
The shrine's June Tennō Festival is nicknamed Kappa Matsuri: participants dress as kappa, water imps, because the deity Susanoo-no-Mikoto is a water god. The festival's sea procession of the divine mask recalls 1751, when a mask of Gozu Tennō was found floating in Shinagawa bay, giving the district of Tennōzu its name.
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