What Is an Ubusuna Shrine?
An Ubusuna Shrine (ubusuna jinja) is a shrine dedicated to the deity that protects the land where you were born. This guardian god, called your ubusuna-gami, is said to watch over you for your entire life.
Since it’s your personal guardian, visiting to pay respects is believed to make the deity happy — and more willing to lend you their power!
I had no idea about any of this until recently. Through a fortunate connection, our whole family had the opportunity to have our ubusuna shrines identified — and we went to pay our respects!
Interestingly, even family members born in the same area can have different ubusuna shrines, and it’s not necessarily the shrine closest to your birthplace.
I was born in Tokyo, but my ubusuna shrine turned out to be Mitsumine Shrine in Chichibu, Saitama. My wife (the director of our Maebashi clinic) got Gassan Shrine in Yamagata Prefecture.
Here’s the thing about Gassan Shrine — it’s only open for worship during two months in summer! (Ha!) On top of that, it’s located at the summit of a mountain, so you need to do a full-on hike to get there. There was even snow still on the ground in summer. What kind of shrine did she choose to be born into…? (Ha!)
A 6-Hour Round-Trip Mountain Hike
As luck would have it, we had a trip planned to the Yamagata/Akita area during summer break, so we squeezed in a visit to Gassan Shrine!
Since we were bringing our daughter — who has little hiking experience — I called the shrine to ask if it would be okay. Their casual response: “Local elementary school kids do this hike as a school trip, so she’ll be fine!” (Ha!)
In reality, it turned into a solid 6-hour round-trip serious mountain climb! (Ha!) But the shrine radiated incredible power. It’s hard to put into words, but once you’re there, you just “get it.”
The prayer ceremony gave us full-body goosebumps!
Wolves and Dragons at Mitsumine
Later, we visited Mitsumine Shrine in Chichibu. We left the house at 4 AM to beat the crowds and started with a 3-hour round-trip hike to the inner shrine.
Our daughter grumbled about the early wake-up but came along like a champ! (Ha!) And after the Gassan experience, the Mitsumine hike felt easy to her. (Ha!)
What’s unique about this shrine is that instead of the usual guardian dogs (komainu), they have guardian wolves! There are adorable and fierce wolf statues everywhere — it’s a treat just looking at them.
Dragon motifs are also found throughout the shrine’s decorations. During our consultation, we were told that the deity enshrined here is actually a dragon god.
It was a Sunday, so by the time we finished the inner shrine hike, the parking lot was completely full and the line of visitors stretched all the way down the stairs. Mitsumine’s popularity is on another level compared to Gassan! (Ha!)
When it’s that crowded, I recommend a formal prayer ceremony — you get to sit quietly and pray without worrying about the crowds!
Now, we still have our daughter’s ubusuna shrine left to visit. Almost mission complete! (Ha!) I’ll share the experience when we go!
Before You Visit…
Fair warning: our English is a work in progress! (Ha!)
But thanks to the magic of translation apps, we communicate just fine with patients from around the world.
Your body speaks a universal language — and that’s the one we’re fluent in.
