Yasaka-jinja holds a special place in the hearts of the Of Rice and Zen team. It’s situated at the east end of Shijo-dori. For residents of Kyoto, like the Of Rice and Zen team, Yasaka-shrine is a central hub all year round. It’s a convenient and well-known landmark with which to orient and direct newcomers. Yasaka-jinja is also a huge spot for both new year and the hanami season in April. But why does it deserve a visit?

For trivia fans or for readers of our trusty editor’s prior website The Memoirs of a Gaijin, you may remember that Yasaka-jinja was the first shrine he visited upon his arrival in Japan and so much did he feel he’d arrived at his spiritual home he was actually moved to tears by one of Yasaka’s simple bamboo water spouts and its purification basin. What a big girl.

It’s a place we pass on our way to a Shijo Starbucks or our favourite ramen joint. It’s a place to come for great photographs all year round. It’s a place you bring friends and family when they visit from home. It’s the jumping off point for exploring Kyoto. It has a strange ubiquity and visible presence. We like to think if Yasaka-jinja was a font it’d be Helvetica.

Yasaka-jinja includes a visually striking gate in bright red that it highly visible from the popular shopping district speared by Shijo Dori (fourth avenue). There is a famous festival in Japan called setsubun festival, when Japanese people like to whip baked soya beans at children in masks as a symbolic attempt to banish evil spirits from the premises. At this time too Yasaka-jinja becomes a throbbing mecca for elderly Japanese men and their huge lenses. If you fail to catch some mochi (sticky rice cake) as its thrown out of the crowd you could console yourself by winning a widescreen TV or iPod in the shrine raffle held at another stall.

For the history fans among you, it may be interesting to hear that Yasaka-jinja used to be called Gion Shrine and was first built in 656AD. Fans of numbers, feel free take a moment to wipe off your chin before continuing. Did you know that in 869AD the portable shrines (mikoshi) of Gion Shrine were paraded through the streets of Kyoto to ward off an epidemic that had hit the city, this was the origin of the now world famous Gion Matsuri that packs the streets of Kyoto and sells a thousands of summer kimono (yukata) every year.

If you’ve never seen a map of the shrine, it includes several buildings, gates, a main hall and a stage - which is a bit like listing the special features of a DVD and including “one shiny side” and “convenient finger hole” in the breakdown. Don’t get us wrong, they are lovely. It’s just that they’re a given. A lovely given.

A short walk from the temple brings you to Maruyama park, which is famous for truly debauched hanami celebrations, one of Japan’s most grand sakura (cherry blossom) trees, an annual lantern festival and makes for a great tourist visit if you’re only in Kyoto for a few days. During the sakura season, just once a year, Joe public has the chance to watch Kyoto rival geisha schools in a dance off. The most famous of which is called the Miyako-odori and features a resplendantly illuminated, gloriously painted and cherry blossom adorned representation of Yasaka-jinja.

It’s a truly postmodern experience to see one of your favourite shrines recreated almost full size before your eyes when you are seated mere minutes from the real shrine itself. Yasaka-jinja is the Takeshi Kitano of Kyoto shrines when it comes to visibility, if nothing else.

Continue up the hill and you’ll reach Kiyomizudera and the other Gion highlights. On the other hand, head left and out of the garden’s north side to find yourself in the glorious surroundings of Chion-in, which has been made famous by numerous Hollywood movies and every Kyoto photo book ever. Probably. Details of Chion-in belong in another article, but for now let us make it clear that not only is Yasaka-jinja the nexus of your Kyoto visit, but in many ways it is the soul of Gion and a visit to Kyoto is not complete without familiarising yourself with its every nook and cranny.

For more information on Yasaka-jinja and all of Kyoto’s other best-kept secrets, Of Rice and Zen highly recommends you get your hands on a copy of JTBs awesome book “Kyoto: The Greatest Travel Tips”, which you can buy using the link below.