Yasaka Shrine

The two-story vermillion gate sits where Shijo Dori ends, marking the eastern boundary of the Gion district. Yasaka Shrine serves as the headquarters for over three thousand shrines across Japan dedicated to Susanoo-no-mikoto, the god of storms and the sea. In eight sixty-nine, priests carried portable shrines from here through the city to appease the gods during a plague. That procession evolved into the Gion Matsuri, a festival that still shuts down Kyoto streets every July to keep misfortune at bay.