Kawai Shrine

Kawai Shrine is a subsidiary shrine (sessha) of Shimogamo Shrine in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City, long worshiped as a guardian shrine for women. It enshrines Tamayori-hime-no-Mikoto, the mother of Emperor Jimmu. Because she is regarded as exceptionally beautiful, she is revered as a deity of beauty, and the shrine is believed to grant wishes related to women, including matchmaking, childbirth, and childrearing. A distinctive practice is the “Beauty Prayer”: worshipers take a hand-mirror-shaped ema, treat it as their own face, apply makeup to it, write their wish on the back, and dedicate it—praying for both outer and inner beauty. The shrine is also tied to Kamo no Chomei, the early Kamakura essayist, who was the son of a priest (negi) of Kawai Shrine; within the grounds is a reconstructed and displayed version of the “Hojō” hut he lived in. Also within the precinct is Narebe-sha, a small shrine dedicated to the three-legged Yatagarasu and known as a “must-win” deity for soccer. Shimogamo Shrine is itself famous for matchmaking; many visitors, especially women, combine prayers at Aioi-sha (with its “joined” sacred tree) and Kawai Shrine’s beauty prayers. It is about a 10-minute walk from Demachiyanagi Station (Keihan / Eizan), located on the left side of Shimogamo Shrine’s approach.