For the final stop on the New Year shrine visit stamp rally “Ashiya Mutsumi no Miya Mairi”, which takes you around six shrines in Ashiya City, I visited “Uchide Tenjinsha Shrine” near Hanshin Uchide Station!
↑This shrine is about a 5-minute walk north from Uchide Station!
Here’s the map↓
The address is 1-21 Kasugacho, Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.
Inside the Grounds of Uchide Tenjinsha Shrine
↑The main shrine building
The deities enshrined here are Sugawara no Michizane, Ebisu, Amaterasu Omikami, Susanoo, Omononushi, Ame no Koyane, Emperor Nintoku, Emperor Ojin, Ichikishimahime, and Kotoshironushi. The shrine is said to bring blessings for academic achievement, business prosperity, protection from misfortune, and recovery from illness.
↑On the shrine grounds, there’s a stone ema plaque featuring the “Wish-Granting Uchide no Kozuchi” mallet! Apparently, if you gently move the body of the mallet up and down while making a wish in your heart, your wish may come true!
The “Ashiya Mutsumi no Miya Mairi” Stamp
↑There was a special tent to the left of the shrine office, and the stamp was placed in front of it!
↑The stamp featured the Uchide no Kozuchi mallet and a cow!
The Commemorative Charm for “Ashiya Mutsumi no Miya Mairi”
↑If you collect all six shrine stamps, you can receive this charm!
↑Here’s what the back looks like.
↑The attached cord is long enough to wear around your neck.
If you show this commemorative charm, it looks like you can receive discounts and other special offers at participating sponsor shops!
The participating sponsor shops are:
- Sengyo Uori fresh fish shop (10% off the purchase price)
- Okashitsukasa Kineya Toyomitsu confectionery shop (10% off the purchase price)
- Zakka Mariange Ashiya (10% off the purchase price)
- Cafe o’zcraft (10% off the purchase price)
- Uchide Shokudo (free drink or dessert with a set meal order)
Those are the five shops!
The special offers are available until Monday, January 31, so I’d like to bring the charm and visit a bunch of shops before the end of the month!
Finally
Of course, all the shrines in “Ashiya Mutsumi no Miya Mairi” are located within Ashiya City, and they’re close enough to visit comfortably in about half a day! If you’re up for it, you can visit them all on foot, or you can also use buses and trains.
I started around noon, used the bus for part of the route and made a few detours, and still managed to finish everything by around 4:00 p.m.! My step count for the day was about 20,000 steps… I was exhausted! But it was fun!
