At Yasui Konpira-gū, a 1.5 m by 3 m boulder shaped like an ema and plastered with paper charms has a hole through it. You crawl through front to back to cut a bad tie, then back to front to form a good one, and paste your charm on the stone.
Why it's unique
This is Kyoto's best-known enkiri, or tie-cutting, shrine, and the rite belongs to this one stone. The researcher held it at city level and was unsure whether to go wider.
It is a physical ritual rather than a sight: you write what you want ended and begun, crawl through on all fours, and add your paper to the thousands already covering the rock. Reading other people's charms is half the experience.
Before you go
Pray at the main hall first. Then write the tie to cut and the tie to form on a katashiro paper (from the stand left of the stone, offering ¥100 or more), crawl through holding it, and paste it anywhere on the stone; the glue is next to it. The hole is smaller than it looks, so people go on all fours: not a day for a skirt.
Reading other people's charms is half the experience. Weekday mornings still mean a 15 minute queue; the shrine says praying at the main hall alone also counts, and the stone is accessible at any hour, so go at night. Use the http official address; the https certificate is for a different host.
