Yoshie Doi

　　Every morning when the Emperor woke up he would purify himself and perform a prayer ritual. As the direction of Ise Shrine from Kyoto is in the southeast corner, a lime platform was set up in the southeast corner of the Seiryoden (Emperor’s residence) of the Imperial Palace. The lime platform is a raised area of ​​earth beneath the floor at the same height as the wooden flooring, which has been covered with a layer of plaster (lime).　

　It was in the southeastern corner because Amaterasu Omikami, the emperor’s descendant, is enshrined in Ise. Prayers have been passed down since ancient times to successive emperors. It seems that the “prayers” held each day were ritualized during the reign of the 59th Emperor, Uda (867-931).

When I step into the grounds of Kyoto Gyoen National Garden, I can feel the memories of the prayers of successive emperors who continued to pray for peace in the capital.

　During the Song Dynasty in China (960-1279), demons would enter from the direction of the Kimon (northeast), so people would ring a bell to seal off the Ox and Tiger rooms. If they convert the Ox and Tiger into months, it would be between December and January. Since evil spirits would enter on New Year’s Eve, people would use the bell to ward off the evil spirits.

　The ringing of the bell on New Year’s Eve is also a custom of throwing away the old and welcoming the new at the end of the year.Hatsumode (first visit to a shrine) also has its roots in the ancient custom of the emperor praying to the light of the rising sun in the eastern sky to welcome the new year.

　On New Year’s Day, the Emperor has been holding an event called Tenchi Shihohai, a prayer for the health of the people and the prosperity of the country, for 2,600 years. The original meaning of hatsumode was to pray for the first sunrise of the year, but it has gradually become a tradition of visiting shrines. The original meaning of hatsumode is to shed one’s skin, as if cleansing one’s mind and body, and welcome the new year.

　Incidentally, Emperor Kanmu also built Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei to seal off the evil spirits. It was said that if we went straight down from Enryaku-ji Temple, we would reach the Imperial Palace. Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine was built on the opposite side, south, to the Ura-Kimon.

　There is a concept called Tenmon, which is opposite to Onimo. This is the concept of making a place with power even stronger, and a representative example of this in Kyoto is Daishogun Hachijinja Shrine. When the capital Heian-kyo was founded, Emperor Kanmu placed a shrine on the grounds of Tenmon to further strengthen the capital’s land.

　During the Meiji period, when the Emperor moved to Tokyo, the population decreased and industry declined. In 1895, a domestic exhibition was held in Okazaki area in an attempt to revitalize the town, and an attempt was made to recreate the commemorative Daigokuden hall on the current site of the zoo.

　However, citizens protested against the building because it faced a bad direction, so instead of a pavilion, the Daigokuden, Seiryu, Byakko and Otenmon Gate were built on the site of the current Heian Shrine, and a shrine dedicated to Emperor Kanmu and others was established.
　Heian Shrine was built with funds provided by the people of Kyoto Prefecture, and the governor traveled around the country to raise funds. It is said that at the ground-breaking ceremony, each neighborhood wore matching yukata and danced for three days and three nights. They even went so far as to stop by businesses on their way home and dance with them to express their joy.

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Translated by Masami Otani

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