Location:
Arakawa Susanoo Shrine is located in Arakawa City, Tokyo. The shrine covers 61 neighborhoods of Arakawa Ward.
Two sacred deities enshrine here. However, locally it is known as Otenno Sama. At the same time, the shrine’s main festival is Tenno-sai Festival.
The shrine is very near to Minamisenju Station and Senju Ohashi Station. Therefore, it takes only 8 minutes on foot from these two stations to the main hall.
History:
Arakawa Susanoo Shrine has more than 1200 years of history. Kokuchin, one of the disciples of En no Ozunu, founded the shrine in 795.
It is good to note that En No Ozunu was the founder of Shugendo. Shugendo is a Japanese religious tradition combined with Shintoism and Chinese Taoism.
Kokuchin found a secret stone and worshipped it. Then, on the night of April 8, 795, he saw the light when he was praying in front of the stone.
He was surprised. Later, he saw Susanoo Okami and Asuka Okami in front of the stone. They blessed him.
So, Kokuchin built the Arakawa Susanoo Shrine facing west on June 3 and the shrine of Asuka Ogami Shrine facing south to protect the area from plagues.
Deities:
Susanoo Okami and Asuka Okami enshrine here.
Zuikoseki Stone:
Arakawa Susanoo Shrine preserves the sacred Zuikoseki Stone that Kokuchin found more than 1200 years ago.
There is a heresy that the local people want to make a bridge over the Sumida River during the Edo Period. They failed because the root of the Sacred Stone extended to the river. As a result, they could not put the pillars.
However, the Sacred Stone is very famous among the local people. Several schools and public parks are named after this Zuikoseki Stone.
Sacred Ginkgo Tree:
There is a lovely Ginko tree in front of the Main Hall. Colorful ema hang on the trank of the tree.
The age of the tree is about 600 years. It has an impressive history.
The Ginko tree is famous as Kosodate no Icho. Literally, Kosodate no Icho means, ‘Child-rearing Ginko tree.’
According to a legend, a mother could not feed her child enough breast milk. So she drank the water of the Ginko tree bark. As a result, she was blessed by the deities and got enough breast milk to feed her child.
She put a votive on the tree as gratitude. Mothers come here and put votives on the tree from that day, hoping for their children’s promising future.
Nowadays, many parents visit the Ginko tree with their children every day. They pray for the safety and the growth of their children under the Ginko tree.
In addition, parents buy Ema from the Arakawa Susanoo Shrine’s ema counter. Then, very carefully, they hang the ema on the tree to wish for the healthy growth of their kids.
By the way, the Ginko tree is a Cultural Property of the city.
Fujizuka:
There is a lovely Fujizuka, which was established around 1864. It is known as Kotsukahara Fuji.
Besides, there are several dedicated monuments on the Fujizuka.
It remains closed, and visitors cannot climb it. However, on July 1, during the Oyama Biraki ceremony is open for visitors.
Sacred Fountain:
The shrine has a holy fountain on the right of the front approach. It is familiar to the local people as Chozuya.
The fountain’s water is also famous as Sacred Water( Goshinsui). The shrine’s authority provides the fountain water for the worshippers to drink.
Besides, there are teacups at the fountain. So visitors can drink the fountain water during their visit.
Festival:
The shrine holds several festivals every year. Some of the major festivals are the Year-end festival, Setsubun Festival, and Tenno-sai Festival.
Arakawa Susanoo Shrine will celebrate Tenno-sai Festival on June 3, 2022.
Tenno-sai Festival in June is the biggest festival of the shrine. It is one of the famous festivals in Tokyo.
Thousands of devotees gather during the festival. The most interesting of the festival is swaying or shaking the portable shrines(mikoshi) right and left while keeping the main bars on the shoulders.
At the same time, people who stay right and left of the portable shrines can join shaking by pushing up the shrines with two hands.
The visitors of the festival enjoy the mikoshi shaking dance.
Access:
Minamisenju Station
(Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line / JR Joban Line / Tsukuba Express)
8 minutes walk
Senju Ohashi Station
(Keisei Line)
8 minutes walk
Address:
Arakawa Susanoo Shrine, 6 Chome-60-1 Minamisenju, Arakawa City, Tokyo 116-0003
Official website:
Book hotel in Tokyo: