Kashiwa Jinja-Shrine

Wish upon a star

Kashiwa Jinja is a Shinto shrine about a 5-minute walk from the station. It is not very big, but therefore has a lovely charm to it. Two dog-like creatures(komainu) are watching you carefully as you enter the shrine grounds. After passing these guardians, turn right to see a dark wooden wall with many smaller wooden tablets attached to it. Some of them simply show two cute dogs wishing for good luck in general, but on the others, you can see a variety of different messages. People write wishes their for the future on these boards called “ema (絵馬)”. If you can read Japanese, you are able to find out people’s heart desires and hopes. Many of them have been written by students, hoping to get into a specific university or achieve good grades on tests. Some of them have small dreams, like being happy or just living with a smile, while some of them wish for something bigger, like world peace.