Dec 23, 2014 - 1 min read

Izumo Shrine's Fukui branch

900 kg straw rope now ready to celebrate New Year!

By Takako Sakamoto

Community writer

This is the 900 kg sacred straw rope just hung for the coming New Year!

Front view of the new sacred rope hung for New Year. The rope is green and fresh!

Stone marker of Izumo Memorial Hall, which stands next to the shrine and serves as a wedding ceremony hall

Wet pathway to Izumo Shrine's Fukui branch

Water purification font and a dragon statue

View of the prayer hall of the shrine, with the new sacred straw rope hanging from the eaves

Beautiful roofs of Izumo Shrine's Fukui branch

Looking up at the prayer bells and the colorful bell ropes

Sign of Izumo Shrine hanging on the wall of the prayer hall

Inside view of the prayer hall and its altar

Copperplate engraving of Ōkuninushi, a god of nation-building, farming, business, and medicine.

Roof ornaments of the main hall with forest in the background

Do you know there is a branch of Izumo Shrine in Fukui? I didn't, till I watched the news on TV featuring the new sacred rope hung from the eaves of the prayer hall. The news said it weighs 900 kg, and was hung there to welcome visitors for the coming New Year. The snow happened to stop just after I watched the news, so I decided to go and check it out. The ropes looked green and new, as though I could smell the fresh green scent of them! This shrine was founded in 1954 by inviting the Ōkuninushi, the principal Shinto god of Izumo Shrine in Shimane Prefecture. There are about 400 Izumo Shrines throughout Japan, and there is even another Izumo Shrine in Fukui, a very small one, in Kakyo Park.

Fukui's Izumo Shrine Series
1. Izumo Shrine's Fukui Branch
2. Snow at Fukui's Izumo Shrine