Imamiya Shrine

A shrine to calm the plague gods

Imamiya Shrine (今宮神社, Imamiya Jinja) is a Shinto shrine in Murasakino, Kita Ward, Kyoto City, north of Mount Funaoka, traditionally dated to 1001, and 32 of its buildings in the main precinct and at its Otabisho were entered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 2018/03/27. The main sanctuary honours three deities, Okuninushi (Ōnamuchi), Kotoshironushi and Kushinadahime, while the Ekijinja at the north end of the grounds is dedicated to Susanoo.

The shrine says a sanctuary for epidemic gods stood here even before Heian-kyo was laid out. In the sixth month of 994, with disease sweeping the capital, the plague gods were carried in two portable shrines to Mount Funaoka and placated with a goryoe, a rite for appeasing restless spirits. That Murasakino Goryoe is regarded as the origin of the Imamiya Festival. In 1001 the rite was held again at Murasakino, three new sanctuaries were built, and the site was named Imamiya, the "new shrine". Imamiya Shrine counts that year as its founding.

Both festival and buildings declined in the Middle Ages. Revival came through Keishoin, a woman born in the Nishijin weaving district who became mother of the fifth Tokugawa shogun, Tsunayoshi. A major rebuilding in 1693 and 1694 fixed the layout that visitors still walk today. The main sanctuary burned in 1896 and was rebuilt in 1902.

How the grounds fit together

Imamiya Shrine runs north to south. The Tower Gate of 1926 stands at the middle of the south front, with its east and west corridors set a short distance away on either side. Through the gate lies the open-sided worship hall, then the offering hall and worship pavilion, and at the far north end the Main Hall and the Ekijinja Main Hall stand side by side. Earthen tsukiji walls close off that inner sanctuary on the north, east and west.

There is a second way in. The East Gate of 1881 faces the eastern approach, flanked by tsukiji walls running north and south. North of it is a large Taisho-era portable shrine storehouse, and in the north-east corner a ritual implement storehouse. The purification pavilion stands north-east of the Tower Gate and faces north, placed for people arriving from the East Gate.

The western half belongs to the auxiliary shrines. Wakamiyasha faces east near the middle of the west side, enclosed by its own gate and openwork fence. North of it a row of small shrines runs from Hiyoshisha through Taishogunsha and Hachimansha to the eight-bay Hassha. Jishusha sits on a slight rise behind Wakamiyasha, and Tsukuyomisha stands further west at the top of stone steps. The large Ema Hall fills the south-west corner and Munakatasha the south-east.

On a first visit, enter by the Tower Gate and walk north past the worship hall to the Main Hall and Ekijinja, swing west to Wakamiyasha and the row of small shrines, climb to Jishusha and Tsukuyomisha, come back south to the Ema Hall, and leave by the East Gate. The grounds are compact, and a full circuit takes about 30 minutes.

Thirty-two registered buildings

On 2018/03/27, 28 structures in the main precinct and 4 at the Otabisho were registered together, with consecutive numbers 26-530 to 26-561. Besides halls, gates and corridors, the list takes in earthen walls, openwork fences and the purification pavilion.

The buildings span roughly 250 years. The oldest belong to Keishoin's rebuilding: the worship hall, the Wakamiyasha main hall, worship hall, gate and fence, and the purification pavilion are dated 1694, Hassha and Munakatasha to about the same time, and Taishogunsha to about 1695. The late Edo period added the Ema Hall (1800), the Kagura Hall (1839) and Jishusha (1842).

The modern rebuilding is just as accomplished. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Main Hall and the offering hall group of 1902 were designed and built by Ito Heizaemon, and the Ekijinja buildings of about 1908 were designed by Kameoka Suekichi, an architect known for finely detailed shrine work. The Tower Gate and its corridors followed in 1926, when the old portable shrine storehouse was moved to the north-east corner and turned into the ritual implement storehouse.

Seven of the registrations, covering the Main Hall, offering hall group, Ekijinja and Tower Gate group, rest on the criterion of serving as a model of design; the rest are registered for contributing to the historic landscape. Each building has its own page with details of its structure and what to look for.

The Otabisho

The Imamiya Shrine Otabisho lies about 1 kilometre south-east of the main grounds, on Omiya-dori in Kamigyo Ward. During the Imamiya Festival the deities ride out in portable shrines and stay here for about ten days before returning. According to Kyoto City, the Otabisho was moved to this spot, the northern edge of Edo-period Kyoto in the Nishijin district, when the festival was revived in the Genroku era.

Four registered buildings stand on the site: the Gondensha, the Shinyo Hoanden, the Noh stage and the Kagami-no-ma. The Gondensha and the Noh stage were rebuilt in 1795 after the great fire of 1788, and the Shinyo Hoanden dates from 1945. Noh was performed on the stage for the festival until the Showa 40s.

Festivals

The Yasurai Festival, on the second Sunday of April, sends parasols decked with flowers and dancers dressed as red- and black-haired demons through the neighbourhood, luring the plague spirits that scatter in spring into the parasols and delivering them to the Ekijinja. It is counted among Kyoto's three unusual festivals, and the demons dance in a ring in the shrine grounds.

The Imamiya Festival opens on May 5, when the portable shrines tour Nishijin and enter the Otabisho, and ends on the second or third Sunday of May with their return. The annual festival falls on October 9. Festival days are crowded, so a weekday morning is better for looking at the architecture.

Opening hours and getting there

The grounds of Imamiya Shrine are open freely and there is no admission charge. The shrine office is staffed from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (checked October 2026). None of the buildings are open inside; everything is seen from the exterior. We found no notice forbidding photography of the buildings, but keep clear of worshippers during rites and prayers.

City bus 46 stops at Imamiya-jinja-mae, right by the shrine. From Kitaoji Station on the Karasuma subway line, buses such as the 1, 12, 204, 205 and 206 run to Funaokayama, about 7 minutes' walk north of the shrine. Walking from Kitaoji Station takes about 20 minutes. There is a paid car park with 44 spaces east of the shrine, but cars cannot enter the grounds and the area is congested at festival time.

For the Otabisho, get off the city bus at Horikawa Kuramaguchi and walk about 4 minutes. Imamiya Shrine is at 21 Imamiyacho, Murasakino, Kita-ku, and the Otabisho at 136 Wakamiya-yokocho, Kamigyo-ku; inquiries for both go to the shrine (075-491-0082).