Kamigamo Shrine: A Historic Shinto Sanctuary in Kyoto
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Tokugawa
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Sanctuary
On this page14 sections
History
Kamigamo Shrine, formally Kamo-wakeikazuchi Shrine, is a Shinto sanctuary in Kyoto, Japan, whose first buildings are traditionally dated to 678 and whose principal sanctuary follows a classical Heian-period architectural tradition. Dedicated to Kamo Wake-ikazuchi, a deity associated with thunder, it is customarily known as the Upper Kamo Shrine. Together with Shimogamo Shrine, it forms the traditionally linked Kamo shrines associated with the Kamo clan.
Origins and early worship
Foundation traditions place Kamo Wake-ikazuchi’s descent at the foot of the sacred mountain Koyama, also called Kamiyama, during the reign of Emperor Jimmu. Another tradition tells that Tamayorihime conceived the deity after finding a vermilion arrow floating down the Kamo River. The arrow is variously identified with the fire-thunder deity of Otokuni Shrine or with Oyama-kui. The Kamo family of Kamo Agatanushi subsequently worshipped Kamo Wake-ikazuchi.
The first shrine buildings are traditionally assigned to 678, during the reign of Emperor Tenmu. A separate tradition connects the sanctuary with regular worship of Koyama during the sixth century and places the first Aoi Festival in 544. The earliest documentary reference to that festival is an entry for 698, when mounted archery on the festival day was prohibited.
Imperial patronage and institutional authority
By the Nara period, the Kamo shrines had become a powerful religious institution. From about 738, the court sent imperial envoys and offerings to Kamo Shrine. After the capital moved to Kyoto in 794, Kamigamo received increased imperial patronage and was associated with protecting the imperial city from malign influences. Emperor Kanmu visited during the imperial progress of 794, while Emperor Suzaku came in 942 to give thanks for the restoration of peace.
In 807, the shrine received the highest divine rank, Senior First Rank, and the Kamo Festival became an imperial festival. The Engishiki, a tenth-century compilation of court regulations and rites, classified it as a Myojin Taisha, a major shrine for a manifest deity, of Yamashiro Province. It also recorded the shrine’s participation in major court offerings, monthly rites, offering-tasting ceremonies, and first-fruits offerings.
From 810, an imperial Saiin institution served the shrine for approximately four centuries. Its Saiō was a high-ranking shrine priestess, traditionally an unmarried imperial princess appointed to serve a major shrine. Kamigamo and Shimogamo were jointly regarded as the Kamo Shrine and served as the chief shrines, or ichinomiya, of former Yamashiro Province. Kamigamo was also counted among the Upper Seven of the Twenty-Two Shrines.
Imperial support included a special divine seal for official documents during the reign of Emperor Heizei, following a system established under Emperor Konin. In 965, Emperor Murakami sent imperial messengers to report important events to guardian deities that included Kamo Wake-ikazuchi. In 1711, Emperor Naka-mikado took refuge in the Hosodono after the imperial palace became uninhabitable.
Reorganization, damage, and modern recognition
A major reorganization of the grounds took place in 1628. The shrine’s ceremonial buildings and associated structures continued to support rites connected with the Kamo deities, including the Aoi Festival, held annually on May 15. Other rites include the Musha archery ceremony on January 16, the Kurabeuma horse-racing rite on May 5, the Miare Festival on May 12, and the Karasu-zumo rite on September 9. The festival tradition includes ritual purification before the principal procession and the service of a Saiō; in modern practice, an unmarried woman is selected as her representative.
Typhoon Muroto caused serious damage on September 21, 1934, when the Tsuchiya and Shokuden collapsed. A relocation ceremony for the main sanctuary followed on November 16, 1937, with an imperial envoy in attendance. The shrine was designated a Chokusaisha, a shrine receiving an imperial envoy, under the modern state shrine system in 1883 and held the rank of Kanpei Taisha from 1871 to 1946. It was added to the Association of Shinto Shrines’ Beppyo list in 1948.
Kamigamo Shrine forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage property Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, registered in December 1994. The designation reflects the shrine’s place within Kyoto’s historic religious landscape and its surviving buildings, ritual traditions, and associated cultural materials.
Remains
Precinct and ceremonial approach
The precinct covers approximately 690,000 square metres and is crossed by the Myojin River. Oak and cherry trees grow throughout the grounds. The approach runs from the First Torii along the sandō, or ceremonial approach, to the Second Torii. The Hosodono stands on the left and the Tsuchinoya, where participants in ceremonies are prepared and purified, on the right. A bridge over a stream leads toward the Romon gate, with the Chumon immediately behind it. The Chumon is opened only at New Year.
Tatesuna sand mounds
Two carefully shaped conical mounds of white sand or fine gravel stand before the Hosodono. Called tatesuna, tatezuna, or morizuna, they express purification through their whiteness. Their paired arrangement represents complementary feminine and masculine principles in in-yō, the Japanese form of the yin-yang concept of interdependent forces. The mounds are also interpreted as representations of sacred Koyama and its evergreen vegetation. Pine needles at their summits symbolize the mountain trees, with three needles on the left mound and two on the right.
Principal sanctuary buildings
Honden and Gonden
The Honden is the principal sanctuary and follows the sangensha nagare-zukuri form. This style has three bays across the front and a long projecting roof that creates a porch. The building is three bays wide and two bays deep, standing on a wooden frame approximately 5.91 by 7.19 metres. Its extended front roof forms the entrance porch. The sanctuary lacks chigi and katsuogi, and paintings of guardian komainu, paired protective figures, appear on its facade. The present Honden dates from 1863 and follows a classical Heian-period design.
Beside the Honden stands the Gonden, an identical substitute sanctuary. The shrine’s principal deity is transferred there whenever the Honden cannot be used, particularly during rebuilding or repair rites. The older custom called for rebuilding every 21 years. Since 1863, the work has principally involved repairs, and the intervention of 2015 was counted as the forty-second rebuilding or repair cycle. The Honden and Gonden are National Treasures.
Associated sanctuary group
The principal sanctuary buildings are arranged as eastern and western halls with south-facing entrances, continuing a Heian-period tradition and using the nagare-zukuri style. Seven small Koto-sha shrines nearby are dedicated to different names of Okuninushi. The Katayama Miko Shrine has a main sanctuary and worship hall dating from 1628. The Shingu Shrine has a main sanctuary and worship hall from the same year, while the Wakamiya Shrine has a main sanctuary dating from 1628.
The Shingu Shrine began as a local enshrinement of the divided spirit of the formerly affiliated Kifune Shrine. Kifune’s mountain location made winter visits difficult, and the shrine became independent in the Meiji period. Other associated shrines include Ota Shrine, dedicated to Ame-no-Uzume; Nara Shrine, dedicated to the Nara Toji deity; Kamo Yamaguchi Shrine, with a main sanctuary and worship hall dedicated to Mitoshi; Kuga Shrine, dedicated to Kamo Taketsunomi; and Suwa Shrine, whose main sanctuary is dedicated to Asuha, Hahigi, Ikui, Fukui, and Tsunagai. Ota, Kamo Yamaguchi, and Kuga are external subsidiary shrines.
Festival and administrative structures
Maidono and Hashidono
The Maidono, also called the Kagura-den, dates from 1628. It was used for imperial visitors and remains a setting for ritual dances performed by miko, women who perform or assist with shrine rites, during festivals including the Aoi Festival.
The Hashidono is a covered platform spanning a stream like a roofed bridge. From this structure, an imperial messenger reads the emperor’s words to the local kami, a venerated sacred or divine presence. The Tsuchinoya and Hosodono stand on either side of the Hashidono.
Former Shinkan area
North of the grounds are the remains of a site called the Shinkan, where the Saiō was said to have entered during the Miare Festival, together with the former Miu-no field. After the Pacific War, Allied occupation authorities carried out extensive tree felling in this area and created the Kamigamo Course of Kyoto Golf Club. The remains were retained within the course. A former shrine-family quarter also survives outside the precinct to the south along the Myojin River.
Documentary heritage
The shrine’s associated cultural materials include a six-volume record of Kamo chief priest Tsunehisa, an extensive body of Kamo Wake-ikazuchi Shrine documents, and a genealogy of Kamo shrine priests. The shrine documents are listed as 13,639 items, comprising scrolls, bound volumes, fascicles, hanging scrolls, maps and plans, individual documents, additional sheets, and document boxes. Together, these records preserve institutional and ritual evidence connected with the shrine over time.
