Come rain or shine, faith guides Tokyo's Weather Shrine

TOKYO — A Shinto shrine in Tokyo's Suginami Ward has become a place where visitors pray not for wealth or long life, but for something far less predictable.

Located within the grounds of Koenji Hikawa Shrine, "Kisho Jinja" -- known as the Weather Shrine -- draws people hoping for clear skies on wedding days and relief from rain or temperatures that can determine business fortunes.

Those who have earned reputations as "rain men" or "rain women" also come seeking divine help. According to the shrine, it is the only one in Japan dedicated specifically to weather.

The approach is lined with sandal-shaped wooden votive plaques, or ema, modeled after geta sandals traditionally used in weather fortune-telling, as well as rows of teru-teru-bozu dolls, charms believed to bring good weather.

Businesses whose sales depend on temperature and seasonal patterns are among the visitors.

The shrine is also promoted by a priest who left a career at a major trading company and later qualified as a licensed weather forecaster.

The Weather Shrine was built in 1944 on the grounds of the former Imperial Japanese Army's meteorological department in Suginami Ward, according to Koenji Hikawa Shrine.

Because military operations were heavily influenced by weather conditions, the shrine served as spiritual support for forecasters praying for accuracy.

After World War II, it was spared demolition under postwar policies abolishing state Shinto and relocated to Koenji Hikawa Shrine. The current structure was rebuilt in 2003 due to deterioration.

The deity enshrined there is Yagokoro-Omoikane-no-Mikoto, regarded as a god of wisdom. In Shinto mythology, the deity's counsel persuaded the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami to emerge from a cave, restoring light to the world -- a story the shrine cites as the basis for its association with weather.

In addition to charms praying for clear skies, the shrine offers talismans for protection from weather-related ailments and even for success in the national weather forecaster examination.

Companies affected by climate conditions have increasingly turned to the shrine. In early November last year, food manufacturer Mizkan Co. asked the shrine to pray for colder winter weather, concerned that recent warm winters could hurt sales of its hot pot soup products.

When a cold air mass arrived in early December, a company spokesperson said there was probably "divine support."

The shrine has also attracted visitors from the academic world.

A high school science club from Kumamoto Prefecture researching the Shiranui phenomenon, a rare type of atmospheric optical phenomenon, prayed at the shrine for good conditions during a school trip.

While the phenomenon did not appear during their observation period the following year, the group reported clear weather.

A central figure in promoting the Weather Shrine is Daishin Kontani, 46, a priest at Koenji Hikawa Shrine.

Originally from Ishikawa Prefecture, Kontani joined a major trading company after graduating from university in Tokyo and spent eight years posted in Russia, including a period of study at St. Petersburg State University.

After meeting the shrine's chief priest, Kontani decided to leave the company in 2018 and become a Shinto priest, saying he saw potential in the Weather Shrine as visitor numbers increased.

He completed the required training and became a priest later that year.

At the suggestion of the chief priest that it would be "interesting if a priest became a weather forecaster," Kontani began studying meteorology in 2020.

He passed the national weather forecaster examination in October 2021.

Kontani has since worked to promote the shrine and the surrounding area as a center for weather-related learning. One of his main initiatives is the annual "Weather Festival," launched in 2022 in cooperation with local shopping districts.

Held most recently in early December, the festival includes disaster-prevention events and a weather quiz aimed at children, won by 8-year-old Chihana Ishida, who participated with her father.

"I've become more knowledgeable about the weather, and now I can dream of becoming a weathercaster," she said.

The shrine has also begun receiving requests for prayers from overseas companies, including firms based in the United States and France, and has attracted attention from foreign media outlets.

"I want to spread the Weather Shrine beyond Japan and around the world," Kontani said.

© KYODO