Charms and Amulets
- Health & happiness
- Directional protection & good fortune
- Travel safety
- Home & building safety、Relocation & construction safety
What is directional protection?

Jonangu is revered as a shrine that gives directional protection. In the
late Heian Period, the Imperial families and the aristocracy had the custom
of not travelling directly to their destination if it was in an inauspicious
direction. Instead, they travelled in an auspicious direction to a transit
point and stayed overnight. From there, they could depart the next morning
in an auspicious direction for their desired destination. This practice,
calledkatatagae(or changing directions) was thought to prevent calamity from certain directions,
and many chose the Jonan Rikyu villa for their overnight stay. Also popular
at the time was the Kumano Pilgrimage* to three shrines located 300km south
of Kyoto. So Jonan Rikyu became the departure point for the pilgrimage
where the retired emperors, empresses, and aristocracy purified their bodies
and minds, and prayed for safety on their journey. More than 900 years
later, this belief survives today as evidence of the continuing belief
in the prevention of calamity caused by the directions and travel safety.
* The Kumano Pilgrimage visited the main three shrines in the mountainous
Kumano region in the south of the Kii Peninsula. The Kumano Kodo ancient
pilgrimage route, which the pilgrims walked, is UNESCO-listed – as is Spain’s
Santiago de Compostela.
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