Imamiya-jinja Shrine

During the Heian period, epidemics ravaged the capital city of Kyoto. Imamiya-jinja Shrine was built by the inauguration of the Spiritual Association to quell the plague in this Murasakino area. The shrine served as a place of prayer for the plague to stop until its closure following the end of the warring states period. It was Keishoin that restored this. Keishoin was a daughter of Nishijin's greengrocer who became one of the wives of the third Shogunate, Iemitsu Tokugawa. She later gave birth to General Tsunayoshi Tokugawa, the fifth shogunate. She was devoted in her faith, and restored the shrine as it was believed to be house to the god of her hometown, and she donated the halberd for the festival, through which she made great efforts to revive the city. The "Yasurai Matsuri" and "Imamiya sai Festival," which are held to pray for a life free of disease, are celebrated today still because of the belief that this festival will also calm the god of poverty.
Orihime shrine is another shrine within the precincts and worships the god of textiles in hopes of improving ones weaving skills. There are also many registered tangible cultural properties to be seen and places worth visiting such as the wondrous "Ahokashi-san" stone. It is said that if you are not feeling well, rub this stone over the source of pain and it will be healed. As for the rest, the specialty "Aburi mochi" rice cakes come highly recommended. Two famous mochi shops sit face to face before the east gate: the oldest teahouses in Japan "Ichimonjiyawasuke," established during the Heian period, and "Kazariya," which was founded in 1637. On the south side of Imamiya-jinja Shrine, there is Daitokuji temple, an old temple of the Rinzai sect, that you should stop by as well.