Yasaka Shrine

八坂神社

Yasaka Shrine, known locally as Gion, stood before the 794 founding of Heian-kyo and is the head shrine of about 2,300 Yasaka and Gion-faith shrines. Official pages name Susanoo-no-Mikoto as the main deity who wards off calamity, note a National Treasure main hall with many Important Cultural Property subsidiary shrines, and describe the Gion Festival, one of Japan's three great festivals, begun about 1,150 years ago as a prayer against epidemic disease.