Travel
Katori Shrine: Two Hours From Tokyo!! |
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| Author: Maya Ross |
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Located 80km east of Tokyo not far from Narita, this famous shrine awaits you in a rush green hill.
You arrive from the highway bus after a refreshing walk snaking up the hill for 10 minutes, you see a nice small Torii gate, and the purification stand where you clean your hand & mouth, and further go up to find the shrine main hall.
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Katori Shine April Festival. Wishes tied to tree. |
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You feel excited with a little warm-up exercise of walking up the stairs, and the incredibly fresh air coming from the temple main hall makes you very happy and a welcoming feeling.
Start from the shrine office on the right hand side, walk slowly counter-clockwise and appreciate the smell of the very tall cypress and other divine trees and the fresh wooden building.
When you come to the group of trees at the left hand of the main hall, take a picture with the tree or breathe deeply. See the sand piled up in cone-shape (Shinto God is believed to fall to these shapes). Take off your shoes and socks and feel the fresh sand at the back of your sole.
Now go back to the main shrine, ring the bell, throw some coins in the offertory box (something like \160 combination of coins are good), bow 2wice, clap your hands 2wice, and say your name and your wishes, and bow once in the end.
Note that this is not a “Prayer” as other religions, but this is more like paying your visit to the Spirit of the Place. It’d be nice to begin by thinking how happy and grateful you are to come here today.
In front of the shrine office, they have some water faucet from which divine, pure underground water is supplied (free). It tastes very good, you may fill your pet bottle.
I bought a nice bell charm (\300) to attach to my cellphone. It makes a very sweet sound. They have all sorts of Omamori (lucky charms) for different purposes, but Katori Shrine is most famous as guardian of commerce and trade, and successful diplomacy and victory at competition. I hear many people who are in the business of “winning” such as political campaign, horseback racer today, and samurai warriors 1000 years ago, are avid devotees to this shrine.
I also bought an Ema (Wood Plate, \700) and wrote 3 wishes, with my name and address on it, and hang it. It’s said that it’s important to identify yourself when you pay a visit to Shinto Power Spots. It’s easier for you to be serious what you are telling the spirit. Also it is not lucky or decent to READ or touch other people’s plates they left. I picked Omikuji (oracle) and got “Sho-kichi” =little luck. I was disappointed, so I walked out of the Torii once, came back to the shrine again, and pulled omikuji again, and this time I got “Dai-kichi” = very good fortune. Persistence!
The shrine is very old and prestigious (I don’t know exactly how old) but seems like one of the oldest in Japan, from a pre-historic mythic era.
On my way to the bus stop, I stopped at the Chaya (resthouse) at the foot of the shrine and had Kusa Mochi (sweet herb dumpling, \600) . The resthouses look pretty deserted, but the food is great.
You can visit their website (Japanese) here.
I took a Kanto highway bus to Katori Jingu, bound for Asomachi-Yakuba (No.4 of Tokyo Station Yaesu Side, Highway Bus Stop) cost me \1,700 yen and about 2 hours. There are 2 buses in the morning but not in the early afternoon.
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