Kushida Shrine

Must-see shrine🙏🏻 • It's the guardian shrine of Hakata - locals consider it the spiritual heart of the area. • Center of the famous Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival (held every July). • Very easy to visit: about 10 minutes on foot from Hakata Station. Highlights • A massive Yamakasa float displayed year-round (even outside festival season). • Traditional shrine architecture with a lively but welcoming atmosphere. • The "Chikara-ishi" (power stones) and lucky charms unique to Hakata.

This shrine is very instagrammable, and everyone knows it. There wasn’t one spot in this entire shrine without a wait to take a photograph. There were several tour buses parked in the parking lot, and the place was crawling with local and international visitors. One of the entrances has a lovely lit up lantern decoration, but as I mentioned, there were tons of couples and families queuing up to get photos, so it was a bit challenging to enter without messing up someone’s shot. The inner grounds had some lovely red gates similar to the famous Fushimi Inari shrine, but there as with everywhere else, it took ~5 minutes to get a decent, non-crowded photo. Of course, there are charms and fortunes available for purchase near the main shrine building. The portable shrine was another great photo spot, and it fit with the entire social media friendly vibe of the shrine. Honestly, there are many more shrines in the city to visit, and if crowed bother you, find them and enjoy some peace and quiet instead of social media.

Kushida Shrine, known affectionately to locals as "Okushi-san" is the oldest Shinto shrine in Fukuoka, central to the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. Being located among modern office buildings and shopping malls adds another level of spirituality to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Drink from the well surrounded by cranes to grant longevity and eternal youth, but not too much. First step is to wish for own longevity with the first mouthful, the second mouthful should be accompanied by the wellbeing of your family and the last mouthful is for the health of friends or partners. Another activity is to test your strength with the chikara ishi. Only attempt to lift the 試石 and leave the rest untouched. If you happen to be coming here during winter in January, you might lucky to pass through the largest otafuku mask in Japan!

This is a well-known shrine in Hakata. Its convenient location near Tenjin, Fukuoka’s shopping district, means it attracts a steady flow of visitors coming to pay their respects. It’s another easily accessible spot worth visiting while exploring the city.

A very pretty shrine, quite small but still a must-see in Fukuoka and a good starting point for exploring the rest of the neighbourhood, which has a lot to offer. I came early in the morning, before 9am, so it wasn't too crowded yet. Visited in mid-November

A must-visit spot in Fukuoka! Kushida Shrine is rich in history and culture, with a peaceful atmosphere and beautiful architecture. The decorative Yamakasa floats are stunning—even outside of festival season. Easy to access from Hakata Station, and perfect for a quick spiritual stop or a deeper cultural experience. Highly recommended for anyone exploring Hakata!

The Kushida Shrine is one of the most famous temples in Fukuoka. It is very near all the shopping areas. So it is very convenient for tourism. Kushida Shrine is next to a busy shopping street. The entrance of the Kushida Shrine has lots of stairs. It was not too bad. The temple itself was super crewded with many people. It is clean and has an elegant environment.

Let’s go visit some temples while in Fukuoka. This is just one of many and all that I visited were beautiful. I’m absolutely positive that I missed a bunch but at some point it gets overwhelming or just starts looking the same. Not being disrespectful but it’s a lot.

This shrine was on one of the stops we had during our day in port from our cruise ship. We had hired a private guide from City unscripted. We did spend a lot Yamakasa festival as you'll see in some of my other posts. The shrine was very busy today, but we were able to get a view of both the handwashing station and people waiting in line to submit their prayers. "According to oral tradition, Kushida Shrine was constructed in 757. The god of the shrine is the tutelary deity of the residents of Hakata. Nationally renowned festivals are held at the shrine every year. These include the "Hakata Dontaku Festival (with Matsubayashi musical accompaniment)," "Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival" and "Hakata Okunchi Festival." You should definitely have this one on your list if you are in town.

We went to visit this temple in Old Town Fukuoka. We caught a taxi from Jr Hakata Station taxi ranks. Very serene and regulars came early in the morning for prayers and fortunes. I saw several people dressed like monks was liking the grounds. It was a nice sunny day so we decided to walk back to the station.

In Japan, any town's oldest buildings are usually temples or shrines. The Hakata area in Fukuoka City has a long history. Kushida shrine is one of the oldest shrines in Hakata. Please bos before entering the shrine. Here is a sacred place. You may buy an omikuji fortune slip to check your fortune. Hakata is an old district in Fukuoka city. Walking around Hakata will allow you to savor the sacred atmosphere.

Kushida Shrine / Fukuoka -- In the middle of the bustling Hakata district rests this intimate Shinto shrine complex at the southern end of the long Kawabata Shopping Arcade. It provided a welcome respite with a surprising number of attractions considering how small the space is. Bright orange torii gates were set up in tunnel-like fashion like a mini version of Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Taisha (photo: https://bit.ly/3ppdL19). However, the most impressive sights were the large festival floats, Kazari Yamasaka, stand tall with vivid images of samurai warriors and scenes from Japanese fairy tales (photo: https://bit.ly/3pun2Vs). We didn't drink the well water which was surrounded by three cranes, even though we could've used the longevity and eternal youth (photo: https://bit.ly/44lOS4Y). The temples themselves were quite popular with the locals, so we maintained a respectful distance. RELATED - Exploring Japan? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2qrUBZo

Kushida shrine is the very famous as the shrine holding Yamakasa festival. This is located in the middle of Hakata area. There are Kawabata shopping street, Canal city and Hakata Riverain near this shrine. The nearest station is Gion station of Fukuoka Municipal Subway Kuko line. It takes approximately 5 minutes by walking from the station. Their precincts is large. There are not only the main shrine but also some auxiliary shrines, Kazari-Yamakasa, sacred trees, historical museum and Nogakuden building. Anyway, they have many seeing spots. Kazari-Yamakasa is the symbol of Yamakasa festival, so I recommend strongly you should see it because it's really cool and great. In addition, Yamakasa festival will hold every 7/1 to 7/15. It's historic and very dignified festival. We can get "Goshuin" (handwritten sign and stamp of shrines and temples) at here. They offer it at the shrine office on the right side from the main shrine. There is the shrine shop near the main shrine, but it's not. The shrine office is the rear side from the shrine shop. It charges 300 yen. They offer the original insert paper with Goshuin. Details about Goshuin is below. http://60ee3107.starfree.jp/goshuin.html 櫛田神社は博多祇園山笠で有名な神社です。 まさに博多の中央に鎮座していて、すぐ近くには川端通商店街やキャナルシティ、博多リバレインがあります。 最寄り駅は福岡市地下鉄空港線の祇園駅になります。 駅からは徒歩で約5分です。 境内はとても広いです。 本殿だけでなく、たくさんの摂社、末社も鎮座しています。 さらに、境内には飾り山笠や御神木、歴史館、能楽殿などもあり、見どころいっぱいです。 飾り山笠は山笠のシンボルであり、とにかく立派で素晴らしいものですので、ここを訪れた際には必ず見て貰いたいものです。 ちなみに、博多祇園山笠は毎年7/1～7/15に開催されます。 御朱印は本殿右側にある社務所にて頂戴する事が出来ます。 本殿のすぐ近くに授与所もありますが、そちらではありません。 社務所は授与所の裏側にあります。 御朱印の初穂料は300円です。 また、御朱印とともにオリジナルのスタンプが押された吸い取り紙も下さいます。 御朱印については下記のリンク先にまとめてあります。 http://60ee3107.starfree.jp/goshuin.html

Our timing was perfect. It was still the shoulder season and not that many tourists - the weather was cool and breezy - but there were tons of sakura and other beautiful flora surrounding this impressive shrine. Highly impressive and a must visit when in Fukuoka.

I went to the New Year's visit to a kushida Shinto shrine. Because of the famous tourist destination of Fukuoka, it was really crowded. It was a sequence about an hour until you worship. It has to also exhibit kazariyama the precincts. Very glad to people without having seen the Yamakasa.

If you are a fan of a Japanese fable, you must visit this shrine. It's not grand by any means, but very rich in its history. Be sure to bring a container to take some fountain water, which is known to cure illnesses. If that's too much to believe, at least you can honor warriors who used this fountain to heal their battle wounds. Conveniently located next to the Canal City mall and there are a lot of stores and restaurants to entertain and feed visitors all day.