A night passed and day two of the trip began. Today was free-time: each group went to their preferred destinations.
Leaving the hotel, we were standing in front of Yasui-Konpira-gū, which we’d picked during pre-trip homeroom. It was close to our Shijō-Kawaramachi hotel, so we’d chosen it as the first stop.
“So this is Yasui-Konpira-gū. The sign under the torii says severance of bad ties and forging of good ones — fits the vibe.”
“Yeah, Japan’s strongest bond-severing shrine — checks out.”
“More crowded than I expected.”
I’d assumed a non-mega-famous spot at this early an hour would be empty.
“On weekends the line gets up to an hour.”
“Yeah, TV and social media boosted the visibility a lot.”
“Wait, that many people want to cut someone out of their lives?”
We passed under the torii into the precincts. The approach had trees and red lanterns on both sides, with stone pavers — visually beautiful.
In uniform it’s understated; people in kimono fit the scenery perfectly, and indeed several kimono-wearers were here.
“By the way — the ‘severance’ here works on more than human relationships.”
“More than human relationships?”
That clarification went past me. Riona explained.
“For example, illness or alcohol addiction — those are bad ties too.”
“Oh, I see, that kind of non-human relationship.”
“Right — if you have a bad habit, you can sever it here.”
If so, I’d sever my long-standing over-negative thinking habit. It had caused me to bolt from the hotel yesterday and worry them.
”…Are the ema in this place all kind of intense?”
“Yeah, I noticed too.”
The votive plaques hung along the approach were filled with content like I pray that the harassing branch manager is transferred to an island branch and I pray to be divorced from my husband cleanly — unsettling in volume.
I’d had a mental image of ema mostly being positive prayer content. Reading these was — jarring.
“This shrine, this is the content.”
“Something about this feels like the underbelly of modern society.”
“There are also matchmaking blessings — some are about that.”
Reona pointed at one that read let me get a 3D girlfriend this year. Right, the shrine’s full mission was sever the bad, then forge the good.
We reached the purification fountain. I improvised the procedure. Spirit matters more than form.
After the fountain we entered the precincts and were greeted by an unsettling structure. About slightly under my height, three meters wide, covered densely in paper amulets.
“There’s a deeply unnerving structure over there — what is it…?”
“That’s the Bond-Severing-and-Forging Monolith. It’s the shrine’s sacred stone.”
“The whole reason we came to this shrine.”
“Visually it is so much that I’m already at capacity.”
If you showed a photo of the monolith to someone without context they’d think it was a cursed object sealed under thousands of paper amulets. I’d send Mio a photo later to see her reaction.