Yōkai Shrine, Shinto shrine in Japan
The Yōkai Shrine stands on Mizuki Shigeru Road in Taishōmachi, Sakaiminato, built in the world of the manga GeGeGe no Kitarō. Its torii is draped with a一反木綿 (ittan-momen) cloth, and its shintai is a black granite stone roughly 3 metres tall paired with a 300-year-old keyaki tree. Behind the shintai sits the Medama-ishi, a stone eye linked to Medama Oyaji.
The shrine was completed with a consecration ceremony held at midnight on 1 January 2000, following rites that ran from the end of 1999 into the new year. Manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, creator of GeGeGe no Kitarō, visited the shrine and performed the ritual of placing a spirit into the go-shintai. The shrine is run by the company Eyes of Taishōmachi, Sakaiminato, and was built in the world of GeGeGe no Kitarō.
The shrine was created in the world of Shigeru Mizuki's manga GeGeGe no Kitarō, and the author himself visited to consecrate the go-shintai. Its name also carries the idea of a yōkai homeland where spirits can live, and the grounds are meant to nurture the natural environment they inhabit. Visitors have held weddings here, and the shrine is sometimes lit up at night.
The shrine stands along Mizuki Shigeru Road in Taishōmachi, Sakaiminato. Purify your hands at the chōzuya beneath the ittan-momen torii, where a stone carved with Medama Oyaji turns slowly in the water, before praying. The grounds are compact and open to the street, so allow only a short stop.
Behind the main body of the shrine stands the "Eye Stone" (Medama-ishi). When Mizuki Shigeru consecrated the shrine, he pointed at a spot on the design drawing and said a Medama Oyaji should be placed there; later that very part fell away and became the stone. The shrine's washbasin, the "Medama Oyaji purification water", has a heavy stone painted with Medama Oyaji that turns slowly under the water's force.
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