During my adventures during the 2015 Spring Nomiaruki, I had a chance to check out Yatsurugi Shrine in Suwa. It is a quaint little shrine, but you will be hard pressed to see many people there during the festival. There really isn’t anything too special about this shrine but I did enjoy the peacefulness of this shrine. It is located behind Yokobue and since most people didn’t venture behind the kura, it was a good place to get away from everyone.
Yatsurugi Shrine
I didn’t spend a lot of time at Yatsurugi Shrine but I did enjoy it. One thing that surprised me was the fact that the large sake barrels being used were actually not from the 5 kura of the area. I guess they have their own shrine to go to, but I’ll have to wait for another day to find those shrines, or research the other shrines in the area.
Suwa Clan Emblem (Mon)
The other interesting thing about this shrine is the use of the “Circle Emblem” of the Suwa Clan. The Suwa Clan used, from what I can deduce, a mulberry leaf as their emblem. It is a very interesting looking “mon”, emblem, and I loved the circle version of it as well. All over Suwa you can see this mon in various forms. If you know any other information about this mon, please share it and let me know as finding this information in English is proving to be a little elusive.
Yatsurugi Shrine (Rear Entrance)
Information
- Yatsurugi Shrine (Official Site – Japanese Only)
- Suwa Clan (Wikipedia – English)
- Mulberry Emblem (Wikipedia – Japanese)