My daily routine of exorcising demon love with Miss Miko

[Review of Hatsuyuki Shrine]

When you stand outside the courtyard and look at the Sakura God Tree, you can feel an overwhelming shock.

From time to time, fallen cherry blossoms fall from the huge canopy covered with cherry blossoms. Some fell gently and slowly in the courtyard, while others flew into the distance with the wind.

Its height must be at least more than forty meters.

The trunk of the tree is so thick that about ten people can hug it.

This Sakura Tree can be seen from a distance in Sakurajima Academy and even at the foot of the mountain, but that doesn't reflect its magnificence at all.

Only by seeing it up close and with your own eyes can you feel awe from the bottom of your heart.

Before entering the shrine, you must follow the rules and bow in the direction of the torii gate.

Also, when passing under the torii gate, avoid the center and walk on both sides - this is because the center is a passage reserved for gods.

Later, after leaving the shrine from under the torii gate, you have to bow again.

You don’t need to bow when passing the first torii gate, but you still have to make a detour when passing through it. This is the way to go on a pilgrimage route with multiple torii gates on one road.

There are also more elaborate ways, such as bowing at the torii gate at the bottom of the mountain. It all depends on personal habits.

After passing the torii gate and walking up the last set of steps, you can enter the gate.

Here, the structure of the courtyard can be clearly seen.

Not far after entering the door, you can see the Teshuisha.

It was a place for washing hands, rinsing mouth, and purifying body and mind. The shape is a roofed but wallless building supported by four pillars.

In the center of the building, there is a wooden pool engraved with the word "purify the heart". On the wall of the pool, there is a large wooden ladle.

There are a few things you need to pay attention to when it comes to purifying the mind in the Hand Water House.

First: You can only scoop water once.

Second: Wash your hands separately before rinsing your mouth. And pour water into the palm of your hand and bring it to your mouth to rinse. Do not touch the ladle directly with your mouth.

Third: Finally, stand the ladle up and let the remaining water flow out to clean the spoon.

Yoshiyuki often visits the Yoshida family's Huangquan Shrine and has long been used to it.

When it was his turn to purify his mind, Yi Xing felt that the water was very cool and sweet, almost like mountain spring water.

Yoshiyuki felt extremely impressed when he thought of how Chia Sakurayuki, who managed the shrine alone, carried water to fill the pond every day.

After purifying your mind at Tesumuisha, you can continue walking along the gravel path surrounded by stone lanterns every few steps according to the normal worship procedures.

Hatsuki Shrine is different from Yomi Shrine in that it is a small shrine with only one priest.

Therefore, there is no Kagura Hall specifically for playing Kagura and a Dance Hall for performing dances.

There is no treasure hall where treasures are stored, and there is no mikoshi hall where mikoshi are stored.

There is also no granting office for awarding sacred items such as lotuses, ema, and amulets. The office is also used by the clergy to handle shrine affairs, and the area is very small. When there are a lot of guests, Yingxue will probably sit at the window to receive them.

This resulted in only three buildings in the courtyard.

They are the worship hall directly in front of the gate and located in the center of the courtyard.

The social office on the right.

And, the shrine maiden’s residence on the left.

The so-called worship hall is a building specially used for worship.

Larger shrines also have coin halls, which are specially used for throwing incense coins.

Normally, all shrines have a main shrine. The location is directly behind the Coin Hall and the Worship Hall. Also in the deepest part of the yard.

In the main hall, the gods are enshrined, such as tablets, tablets, tokens and other things that symbolize the gods. Unlike temples, shrines only rarely have statues of gods.

Only clergy are allowed to enter this temple, and tourists are strictly prohibited from entering or opening the door to peek. That's a very disrespectful behavior.

Small shrines usually combine the worship hall and the main shrine into one, and use the main shrine directly.

But Hatsuyuki Shrine is special.

It does not have a main hall, but it has a worship hall.

The end of the courtyard opposite the gate was originally where the main hall should have been. But here, there is only the Sakura God Tree.

Yoshiyuki guessed that this was because the Sakura God Hatsuyuki's true form was this giant tree, and Hatsuyuki Shrine did not enshrine other gods, so there was no need to set up a main shrine to accommodate the god's body.

The Sakura Goddess Tree, like the worship hall and the shrine maiden's home, is surrounded by a mahogany fence called "Tamagaki".

That was to isolate the residence of the gods from the secular world and ensure the purity of the divine realm.