The Yasaka Shrine on the eastern edge of Kyoto plays an important role in the cultural life of the old capital, now and in the past. In July it organizes Kyoto's largest festival, the Gion Matsuri, and and top of that it is one of the most popular destinations for a New Year shrine visit (hatsumode). It also gave rise to the large pleasure quarter at its gates, catering to native townsmen and visitors from all over the country, of which the elegant Gion geisha quarters still form a vivid testimony.

The Yasaka Shrine is also the location of an interesting observance that already starts on New Year's eve and continues throughout the night: okera mairi. People come to the shrine to light a length of straw rope at a ritually pure fire to which okera plants have been added. Okera is a herb used in Chinese medicine (it is related to the chrysanthemum) and is believed to help against stomach trouble. It is burned in the New Year fires of the shrine because it keeps the air dry and pure. The slow-burning straw ropes, by the way, are sold by vendors in the shrine grounds for rather inflated prices (700 yen).
[The holy fire]
The Yasaka Shrine is a 24 hours affair even on ordinary days. Its large red Romon gate, that is turned towards Shijodori as if in a welcoming gesture, is open also at night and in fact, after dark, when the lanterns on the Kagura platform are lighted, the shrine is at its best. So too, on Omisoka, New Year's Eve, when the grounds are literally ablaze with light...