After descending, he built a small shrine by the shores of Hiraizumi Pond, where the goddess had appeared. This marked the beginning of what would become a sacred site of syncretic Shintoism and ...

Aioi-no-yashiro, a small shrine on the grounds of Shimogamo Jinja Shrine in Kyoto, is known to have a “god of matchmaking” as its guardian deity. When I visited the place, numerous “ema ...