Kifune Shrine, Shinto shrine in Sakyo-ku, Japan
Kifune Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto, at the upper reaches of the Kamo River. Its three halls—Honmiya, Yui no Yashiro (Nakamiya), and Okumiya—stand apart along the Kifune River. The approach includes a stone staircase lined with reddish-orange wooden lantern posts and a two-story vermilion gate with dark grey roofs.
During the Heian period, court officials brought black horses here to pray for rain and white horses to request fair weather. The shrine stood under imperial patronage and served as an important stop for petitions to the deities of water.
Visitors draw fortunes on special paper strips that reveal their messages only after dipping them into the clear spring water. This form of divination connects belief in the purifying power of water with curiosity about what lies ahead.
Take the Eizan train to Kibuneguchi Station and follow the footpath uphill through Kibune village to reach the shrine. The staircase with 87 steps requires steady footing, especially in wet conditions or winter.
Only the Okumiya, the upper sanctuary 700 metres upstream of the main hall, has a ryuketsu, a dragon hole beneath its hall that no one is permitted to look at; it is counted among Japan's three great dragon holes. The main hall and the middle Yui no Yashiro stand over no such pool.
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