Neighborhood Hirakata -Gotenyama Shrine-

I live in an apartment which is very close to gotenyama station. I really like my neighborhood, because it is quiet and there are several places I love to visit. One of those places is a Gotenyama shrine.

This is the entrance to the shrine. This shrine is located on the hill, so visitors need to go up stairs. It sometimes takes energy, but I think it can be a good exercises.

After going up the stairs, visitors finally enter to the shrine.

First, visitors purify their mouth and hand by water at this place. Shinto focuses on purification. I learned that people who had death in their family usually refrain from going into shrine, in the other class I am taking now at CIE.

After I purified my mouth and hand, I prayed. I usually throw 5 yen when I pray at the shrine, because goen means good relationship with others or good chance with people in Japanese.

I had time to look around in the shrine and I found a lots of omikuji (fortune slip) are tied to a bamboo sticks. There were some ema (wooden plate which people write their wish on) too.

I first came to this shrine when I was a freshman at KGU. I was trying to find a place to practice syamisen and found the shrine. I do not go there so often lately, but I thought its good to go to those spiritual places.
I felt my heart kind of purified after I visited the shrine. I would like to go to the shrine in Kyoto next time.