Recently I paid a visit to Kifune Jinja to see the autumn colours on the approach along the Eiden line. This ancient shrine just to the north of Kyoto has been featured on Green Shinto previously here, and I was surprised to find several innovations since my last visit. The shrine has origins in the prehistoric past, when legend says an aristocratic expedition came in search of the source of a river. The innovations made me think I may have been looking too into a futuristic Shinto as well as the distant past.
But first of all, is it Kifune or Kibune Jinja? Shinto Shrines by Cali and Dougill suggests that while the shrine is correctly called Kifune, the village in which it stands is known as Kibune. You say Kibune, I say Kifune, either way it is a shrine well worth visiting and an ever delightful outing for those of who live in Kyoto.
Stairway to heaven – or at least to the kami
With the Covid crisis abating, there is the rare chance these days of using the temizuya for the customary ablutions.An unusual seasonal touch for the votive prayer boards (ema) Ema derive from the practice of donating horses to shrines, black when wishing for rain and white for cessation.Something I hadn’t seen at the shrine before. A smartphone audio guide, and what’s more in English too. Instructions in English too of how to use the fortune slips (this being a water deity, the slips of paper are only readable when placed on water).
Even in front of the Worship Hall notices are placed to advertise the audio guide.
The traditional way is still best.
With the kami watching, there is no problem leaving money lying around
I paid my money and got a fortune slip
Great news! I will have good luck in all aspects of life for the foreseeable future.This was great news too – the shrine is actively collecting funds for charity work with water projects in Sudan.And so back home along the maple-lined Eiden railway line after a visit that suggested Shinto may be turning toward a more open, international, high tech and charitable future.
Yellow Boat Kifune Shrine to the north of Kyoto stands in the village of Kibune, which is why many Japanese mistakenly call it Kibune Jinja. The shrine however insists on the proper pronunciation of Kifune – meaning, Yellow Boat.
The shrine is ancient and was once highly ranked. Still today it’s noted for its close connection with water and the rain kami, with streams cascading down hilly surrounds. The theme is maintained in the fortune slips that have to be immersed in water before they become legible.
The origin of the shrine concerns the eponymous Yellow Boat, for it’s said in ancient times that an imperial princess came by boat from Osaka to seek the source of the river. She managed to get all the way up to the slopes of Kibune, and the spot at which she stopped is commemorated now with a plaque that stands in the upper part of the shrine (Okunomiya). There you will find a rock boat, representing the one that she supposedly used. (One presumes the original had a yellowish tint.)
The rockboat at Kifune’s Okunomiya
The first question that comes to mind is why would anyone choose to travel in a rock boat? You could hardly imagine anything less practical, guaranteed to sink rather than float. The answer lies in the elevation of the princess to an ancestral kami. Since kami are immortal, they are associated with the most enduring of substances – rock. (For more on the subject, see this posting.)
The rock boat that stands in Kifune’s upper shrine is in fact a modern addition, for it was found in the mountains in 1996 with a shape suggestive of an ancient boat. Because of Shinto’s inclination to take chance and coincidence as signs of the divine, the rock was seen as sacred and installed at the shrine as a symbolic feature. You’ll sometimes see people in prayer before it.
The rock inscription of Izumi Shikibu’s poem
Culture rock In the same small compound of Okunomiya is a rock of another kind, covered with the inscription of a poem by famed Heian court lady, Izumi Shikibu. She was twice married, the second time to the brother of her dead husband, and is closely associated with love – passionate love and broken love. Once when she was having relationship trouble (the husband she loved had turned his attentions to another), she came on pilgrimage here and composed a poem about the fireflies she saw.
Reflecting on my life – the fireflies above the stream seem to be my yearning soul wandering free of my body
物思へば澤の螢も我身よりあくがれ出づる玉かとぞみる mono omoeba sawa no hotaru mo wagami yori akugare izuru tama ka to zo miru
In her poem Izumi compared her love to the fireflies, flickering bright but briefly. Poems in Heian days were known as uta (songs), and as she sang her composition to the gods by way of an offering she heard a response seeking to console her. Not long afterwards the relationship with her husband improved.
Rocking on The two rocks of Kifune thus encapsulate the role of cultural guardian that is an important aspect of Shinto. One marks Japan’s spiritual heritage, the other the artistic. The rock-gift of Mother Earth thereby unites the majesty of nature with human creativity, and in so doing it memorialises both.
Small as it is, Kifune Shrine is one of Green Shinto’s favourites, for it speaks to mankind’s inviolable bond with the environment. But more than that, it exemplifies the vital role that Shinto plays as a post-shamanic religion not only in sanctifying the spirit of place, but in preserving the communal sense of identity. So next time you are in Kyoto, take a ride upstream to Kifune, and you too may be moved by the power of rock to give substance to the unseen.
********** For more about Kifune Shrine and its links with nature, see here or here. For more about the spiritual quality of rocks, please look through the relevant Category in the righthand column of this page.
The power of water to give life and transform is reflected in fortune slips that only become legible when immersed
