In Futaba, Shinagawa Ward, there is a shrine called Hebikubo, which is said to be one of the most sacred places for white snakes, the angel of God in Japan. It became very popular for New Year’s visits because of the media coverage it received at the end of last year in connection with the year 2025, the Year of the Snake.
The shrine was so popular that there were always several-hour waits from queuing up to praying during the first three days of the New Year, and it was said that the shrine was in a state of almost panic. It was said that in the end, they finally had to ban people from praying and asked them to leave. It was like a human DDoS attack. No, that’s not a very good joke, sorry.
So, I thought that the commotion would have died down by January 10th, and I went to see for myself to pray.
Here’s what it was like there.
I was too naive. The number of visitors has not decreased at all.
It’s not even possible to enter the shrine grounds, let alone visit the main place of worship. The people filling the area around the torii in this photo were the ones who are asked to give up visiting the shrine today, and asked to queuing up to make a quick visit to the torii and then go home. It’s amazing. I can find no other words to say about it.
I couldn’t bring myself to join the queue, so I took this one photo and decided to leave. Maybe I’ll come back on the next Snake Day next.
The area around the shrine was a quiet residential area in Shinagawa Ward. The street lined with shops had these cute original street lamp decorations that were meant to bring good luck. It looked like a nice place to live.
For the shrine and this town, the long queue must have been an extremely unusual sight.
So, that’s the pathetic report of our failure to reach the Hebikubo Shrine and our subsequent retreat,
Then I’ll just add a little extra.
On the way back, I passed through Nishi-Oi Station on the Yokosuka Line, so I decided to stretch my legs for a few minutes and take a quick look at the Nikon headquarters, which moved to the area last October. Unfortunately, Nikon museum wasn’t open for business at the time, but the building that houses the museum is quite stylish, so I took a look at the outside at least.
Okay, next time I visit here, I’ll try to come on a weekday and buy some Nikon yokan confectionary on the way home.
So, that’s it for the extra information.
Thank you for reading to the end.
