Shiogama Shrine
Shiogama Shrine
4.5
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4.5
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MMSM1103
東京都8,139 contributions
Dec 2023 • Solo
From JR Senseki Line Hon-Shiogama Station towards Shiogama Shrine, you can go about 500m along the road that has been developed as Shiogama Kaido, and there are three places: Higashi-sando, the shrine entrance, 250m further on, Nanamagari-zaka, and 250m further on, Omotesando. Since Omotesando is a steep stone staircase that goes up 202 steps, I wanted to go from there, so I went straight from Higashi-sando entrance to Shiogama Kaido, passed Nanamagari-zaka entrance and the tsunami arrival monument next to the old house of a miso and soy sauce brewery, and arrived at the Omotesando entrance. From there, I went up the stairs to the main building of Shiogama Shrine. Apparently, parishioners carry a one-ton portable shrine up and down the steep stone steps during the Shiogama Shrine Hote Festival and Hana Festival. I've never seen it, but it seems amazing. I was tired from climbing the stone steps, taking breaks along the way, but once I passed through the Romon and Karamon gates, I came across the majestic shrine buildings of the Left Shrine, the Right Shrine, and the Betsumiya. After praying, I walked around looking at the cultural assets of the Bunji lanterns and Bunka (copper and iron) lanterns in the precincts, as well as the sub-shrines and the Taraha subtropical plant. There was a lot to see. On the way back, I stopped by Shibahiko Shrine, passed by the strolling garden with Matsushima Bay as a backdrop, and descended the long stone steps from the east approach. Shiogama Shrine is perhaps the best shrine in the Tohoku region, and there is a lot to see. It seems to be beautiful in the flower season. I recommend you visit at least once.
Written 18 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
k_matsu132
Kushiro, Japan22,596 contributions
Apr 2024 • Couples
Shiogama Shrine, which uses the very difficult feeling of Shiogama, was located on a hill in the city center of Shiogama. There was a large parking lot when I drove to the hillside. From there, soon after you head to the shrine, you will find a splendid torii gate, which leads to the stately Romon Gate and Karamon Gate along the lush approach.
After entering the gate, there are two main buildings, and the main deity, Shiotsuchi Okina, is enshrined on the right side. The shrine where the main deity was enshrined had the word "Betsugu" written on it, and the shrine where the deity of Kashima and Katori was enshrined in front of it had the word "Saigu". The shrine was one of the best shrines in Tohoku, with its solemn main building as well as buildings such as Bunji lanterns, which made you feel to the fullest that it was the "Ichinomiya of Mutsu Province".
After entering the gate, there are two main buildings, and the main deity, Shiotsuchi Okina, is enshrined on the right side. The shrine where the main deity was enshrined had the word "Betsugu" written on it, and the shrine where the deity of Kashima and Katori was enshrined in front of it had the word "Saigu". The shrine was one of the best shrines in Tohoku, with its solemn main building as well as buildings such as Bunji lanterns, which made you feel to the fullest that it was the "Ichinomiya of Mutsu Province".
Automatically translated
Written 9 September 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
tamura3d
Novato, CA106 contributions
May 2019 • Couples
Beautiful complex of shrines designated as Important Cultural Properties dating back to the 9th century. Located at the top of the hill overlooking the city with great views and a lovely garden pond (for viewing only). A bit of a hike from the train or bus but car parking available at the top. Most of the structures have been reconstructed with exquiste detail: red laquered wood with polished brass details. One of the oldest shrine sites in Japan and on the level you would see in Kyoto or Tokyo. Easy to find due to its location and worth the effort to visit!
Written 24 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
hfot2 🌸🍁🌸
Vermont7,599 contributions
Apr 2017 • Couples
We visited Shiogama from Sendai. Because the grounds have such a variety of sakura some were at peak while others were gone by. The window of opportunity for sakura viewing lasts a long time.
The shrine was readying for a matsuri and, unfortunately, several stalls had been set up right in front of some of the trees blocking them from view. In addition, construction was going on in the path in front on the main hall. Nevertheless, there were many lovely trees and many were at peak with masses of blossoms. Almost all of the trees had name tags which we photographed for later study.
The shrine is composed of many halls, but for us the gardens, the plantings and tall trees, the pond and, of course, the sakura were the main attraction.
A women’s choir, which was rehearsing on a grassy slope, provided lovely music during our visit. A bride and groom on the bridge having their wedding photos taken offered us great photo ops as well.
A few suggestions which I hope are helpful:
the shrine is about a 15 minute walk from the station - just about when you think you’ll never get there, you do
the shrine is at the top of a hill so be prepared for a lot of steps up to the compound
The shrine was readying for a matsuri and, unfortunately, several stalls had been set up right in front of some of the trees blocking them from view. In addition, construction was going on in the path in front on the main hall. Nevertheless, there were many lovely trees and many were at peak with masses of blossoms. Almost all of the trees had name tags which we photographed for later study.
The shrine is composed of many halls, but for us the gardens, the plantings and tall trees, the pond and, of course, the sakura were the main attraction.
A women’s choir, which was rehearsing on a grassy slope, provided lovely music during our visit. A bride and groom on the bridge having their wedding photos taken offered us great photo ops as well.
A few suggestions which I hope are helpful:
the shrine is about a 15 minute walk from the station - just about when you think you’ll never get there, you do
the shrine is at the top of a hill so be prepared for a lot of steps up to the compound
Written 24 August 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Seven W
Washington DC, DC364 contributions
Apr 2016 • Couples
We scheduled our day trip to Shiogama on 4/16 Saturday as there're cherry blossom festival at Shiohama shrine and a sake distillery tasting during 4/15-4/16.
From the station to the shrine, you can see several signs in Japanese about how high Tsunami reached. Surprisingly the water reached very near Shiogama shrine which is very far from the shore.
Shiogama shrine is on top of the hill. You can clime steep stone steps or walk on the up-hill (easier). The shrine compound is huge with another shrine and a garden. At cherry blossom peak, you see different types of cherry blossoms all over the compound. At cherry blossom festival, the shrine and cherry blossoms are lit up, and the stone steps are lined with candle lights at night. At the bottom of the steps, a big Chinese character for "flower" was created by candle lights. Everything was so dreamy.
About sake tasting event, it's Y800 for 3 "full" glass of sake from 3 different sake distillery, 1 fish cake (Kamaboko), a small package of sea salt, tasting glass. Shiogama is famous for sake and sea salt. You can taste at the sake distillery or outside (of course, it's legal to drink outside). One distillery has benches outside, another one is near the parking lot where you can buy foods or sit at the table. As Shiogama is famous for Sushi, it'd be a good idea to taste fresh Sushi at the local restaurant.
From the station to the shrine, you can see several signs in Japanese about how high Tsunami reached. Surprisingly the water reached very near Shiogama shrine which is very far from the shore.
Shiogama shrine is on top of the hill. You can clime steep stone steps or walk on the up-hill (easier). The shrine compound is huge with another shrine and a garden. At cherry blossom peak, you see different types of cherry blossoms all over the compound. At cherry blossom festival, the shrine and cherry blossoms are lit up, and the stone steps are lined with candle lights at night. At the bottom of the steps, a big Chinese character for "flower" was created by candle lights. Everything was so dreamy.
About sake tasting event, it's Y800 for 3 "full" glass of sake from 3 different sake distillery, 1 fish cake (Kamaboko), a small package of sea salt, tasting glass. Shiogama is famous for sake and sea salt. You can taste at the sake distillery or outside (of course, it's legal to drink outside). One distillery has benches outside, another one is near the parking lot where you can buy foods or sit at the table. As Shiogama is famous for Sushi, it'd be a good idea to taste fresh Sushi at the local restaurant.
Written 24 May 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Seatac405
Seattle, WA37 contributions
Feb 2014 • Friends
Uragasumi and Shiogama Shrine should be a set menu in visiting Shiogama, because Uragasumi used (and I believe they still do) brew sake to be dedicated to gods of Shiogama Shrine. We called earlier to make an appointment for a visit. A lady showed us around in the brewery, let us sample some sake (costs 300 yen, and you get a little sake cup to take home) in their gift shop. She told us that they are recently into brewing sake in the traditional cedar barrel. The Sake gelato they sell at the gift shop was just amazing. There are a few other sake breweries in the neighborhood, too. Besides sake, you can also buy fresh sake lees to make marinade!
Written 24 September 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bahlul
Tripoli, Libya33 contributions
Aug 2013 • Family
Shiogama shrine and its Japanese garden are very well arranged and decorated, beautiful place to visit it at the same day with Matsushima since it is very close to It.
Written 30 August 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
bakatori
Singapore, Singapore552 contributions
Apr 2012 • Solo
Shiogama Jinja is about 20 min walk from JR Honshiogama Station.
You can access the temple either by climbing up the steep flight of steps. Or take a easy short cut via the shrine before Shiogama Jinja.
During April, on the 4th Sunday, a spring matsuri is held. Food stalls are set up infront of the station.
This year, it fell on 22nd April. I purchased a Sendai Marugoto pass from sendai Station. This pass which cost Yen 2600 allows you to travel on all JR local lines and sendai loope bus unlimited for 2 days. Please note the office that sells this pass opens at 10.00am and it is located on the 1st floor of the Sendai Station. Just ask the information counter if you can't find it. You will be able to exchange your JR East pass too at this office.
Hence by the time I reached Shiogama Jinja, it was already 11.00am. I was in time for the ritual dance and the solemn ceremony. The Mikoshi will descend from the flight of steps, carried by the religious bearers in white. A colourful procession will commence once it reach the bottom of the steps with the swaying Mikoshi as its main attraction. The heavy Mikoshi seemed to have a will of its own, swaying and moving in all directions, giving the bearers a hard time in keeping it in the right course.
The cherry blossoms in Shiogama blooms in late April.
Meaning either you are in time to join in the matsuri and miss the bloom or enjoy the bloom and miss the matsuri.
Or you may want to stay longer in Sendai to have both.
Shiogama was not spared from the Tohoku 2011 earthquake. Economically and physically. Shops went busted due to poor or no business. Buildings deemed unsafe after the earthquake were cordon off with tapes.
You can hear people encouraging one another to hold on "Gambatte ne!" in the crowd.
Even amidst these make merry, one can't help but wonder "what about tomorrow" once the festive crowd has left?
You can access the temple either by climbing up the steep flight of steps. Or take a easy short cut via the shrine before Shiogama Jinja.
During April, on the 4th Sunday, a spring matsuri is held. Food stalls are set up infront of the station.
This year, it fell on 22nd April. I purchased a Sendai Marugoto pass from sendai Station. This pass which cost Yen 2600 allows you to travel on all JR local lines and sendai loope bus unlimited for 2 days. Please note the office that sells this pass opens at 10.00am and it is located on the 1st floor of the Sendai Station. Just ask the information counter if you can't find it. You will be able to exchange your JR East pass too at this office.
Hence by the time I reached Shiogama Jinja, it was already 11.00am. I was in time for the ritual dance and the solemn ceremony. The Mikoshi will descend from the flight of steps, carried by the religious bearers in white. A colourful procession will commence once it reach the bottom of the steps with the swaying Mikoshi as its main attraction. The heavy Mikoshi seemed to have a will of its own, swaying and moving in all directions, giving the bearers a hard time in keeping it in the right course.
The cherry blossoms in Shiogama blooms in late April.
Meaning either you are in time to join in the matsuri and miss the bloom or enjoy the bloom and miss the matsuri.
Or you may want to stay longer in Sendai to have both.
Shiogama was not spared from the Tohoku 2011 earthquake. Economically and physically. Shops went busted due to poor or no business. Buildings deemed unsafe after the earthquake were cordon off with tapes.
You can hear people encouraging one another to hold on "Gambatte ne!" in the crowd.
Even amidst these make merry, one can't help but wonder "what about tomorrow" once the festive crowd has left?
Written 14 May 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SarahAHA121
Bangkok, Thailand285 contributions
Jan 2018 • Solo
Even there were only few trees in front of temple garden/museum, near the small public toilet, but the view of small Shiki (all-four-season) sakura flower in the evening (about 3pm because sun would set around 4.30pm in winter) was so beautiful.
The garden in front of the temple and the temple shrines themselves also beautiful, with many Japanese there to pray and queue for monk new year blessing (of course, I did not wait. It was too long.)
More surprisingly that the most popular activity here during new year was to pay for drawing lots for small fortune telling ticket. What to surprise was there were so many tickets tied left at the temple (I though they were bad fortune telling letter.) There were many holy charm selling, and the station to let you put the last new year bought charm to throw away there also.
Just one star minus because both the google map and the road sign shown the very harsh, tiring way to climb to the mountain top to this temple, and then I found out that this way was outdated and not for use already. Other Japanese drove there car climb to here. (There were many Japanese and tourist trying to climb from the back mountain as I did too, lol)
The garden in front of the temple and the temple shrines themselves also beautiful, with many Japanese there to pray and queue for monk new year blessing (of course, I did not wait. It was too long.)
More surprisingly that the most popular activity here during new year was to pay for drawing lots for small fortune telling ticket. What to surprise was there were so many tickets tied left at the temple (I though they were bad fortune telling letter.) There were many holy charm selling, and the station to let you put the last new year bought charm to throw away there also.
Just one star minus because both the google map and the road sign shown the very harsh, tiring way to climb to the mountain top to this temple, and then I found out that this way was outdated and not for use already. Other Japanese drove there car climb to here. (There were many Japanese and tourist trying to climb from the back mountain as I did too, lol)
Written 21 January 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Yumyum108
Geneva73 contributions
Mar 2017 • Couples
We were there just at the beginning of the Sakura blossoming period. The gardens are beautiful, a parallel universe accessible by a very long stairway, but worth the effort. I'll come again...
Written 14 April 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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