Namba Yasaka Shrine

Introduction

Namba Yasaka Shrine hides in a residential lane in Motomachi, Naniwa ward: two turns from busy Namba and you face a lion's head twelve metres high, eleven wide and ten deep. The Shishiden, completed in 1974 alongside the postwar rebuilt main hall, is a stage set into that gaping mouth. Its twenty-four teeth and golden eyes are brass, the eyes double as lamps, the nose as a speaker, and looking up reveals hand-carved phoenixes on the ceiling; lion dances and kagura are performed inside at festivals. The open mouth is said to swallow evil and misfortune, which makes the shrine a place to pray for victory, so students, athletes and shopkeepers come for success in exams, contests and business. The three deities are Susanoo, Kushinadahime and the eight Yahashira-no-mikoto; once called Namba Shimo-no-miya, it was the local tutelary shrine. The 1945 air raids destroyed the old buildings and almost all records, so what stands here is a reconstruction. On the third Sunday of January the Tsunahiki shinji drags a great eight-headed, eight-tailed rope serpent through the grounds, designated Osaka's first intangible folk cultural property in 2001; the 13-14 July summer boat procession was revived in 2001 after a 230-year gap. The grounds are small, twenty minutes is enough, entry is free, and the lion-head amulets and shaped fortune slips at the office draw many visitors on their own. The name uses Osaka's character for 'saka', and this is not the Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto.

✨ Highlights

🛈 Practical Info