| DATE: | December 31, 2005, at 7p.m. | |
| PLACE: | 625 Gion-cho Kitagawa, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto |
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| DIRECTION: | 6-minute walk from Keihan Line at Shijo station | |
| TEL: | 81-75-561-6155 | |
| ADMISSION: | Free | |
| TEXT: | Yasaka-jinja Shrine, nicknamed “Gion-san,” is widely professed as the God that expels evil spirits and brings business prosperity. Each New Year’s Eve, people visit this shrine, and receive and take holy fire home from the Okera lantern with a rope. It is believed that those people can stay healthy and not get sick in the following year if they use this fire to cook Ozoni (rice-cake soup) or to light candles in front of the Shinto alter. They carefully twirl the fire rope without putting it out on the way home. |