Kibune Shrine (Sort Of)
Kibune Shrine... From the Back... Sort Of -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/45 sec, f/3.5, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Kibune Shrine... From the Back... Sort Of

Having visited Kibune with Aunt Jeannette yesterday, I was reminded of my trip to Kibune a month ago. On that trip, we'd eaten at the northern-most restaurant (Hirobun — ひろ文), then made a short climb to a mini “associated shrine” area related to the larger Kibune Shrine (貴船神社) located half a kilometer downstream.

It was a little, quiet area with a small gate and a tiny shrine. In the photo above, the road and restaurant are out of sight below the gate.

Wish Holder Thing -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/25 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Wish Holder Thing

The shrine had two little places for tying wish papers, one of which is shown in the photo above at left. They seemed older than the mini shrine itself, which looked to have been recently rebuilt.

Wishes -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Wishes

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 30mm — 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Roof of the Wish Holder Thing
A Wish or Two -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
A Wish or Two
— map & image data — nearby photos The Story -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 32mm — 1/60 sec, f/4, ISO 800, P.P. boost: +0.71EVmap & image datanearby photos
The Story

From what I understand (which is mostly from Fumie's explanation at the time, and from reading the sign above a bit), the famous post Izumi Shikibu (和泉式部 — born exactly 1,000 years before Fumie) came to the Kibune Shrine because she was unhappy with her relationship with her husband. She sat at the river and saw a firefly and heard a voice or something, blah blah blah, and everything was fine after that.

So, this shrine is for relationships (family, spousal, business, etc.), so one might presume that the wishes are related to that. I'm not sure whether this mini shrine area commemorates the firefly/voice thing, and thus is the relationship shrine, or whether the whole of the Kibune Shrine took on that meaning. It doesn't really matter though... it's a quiet, peaceful, photogenic place, so I'm happy to visit.


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