Mekari Shrine, Kitakyushu

Mekari Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan.HistoryThe wife of Emperor Chūai, Empress Jingū, came here sometime during the legendary military invasion of Korea in the 3rd century. She had Mekari Shrine built as a way of giving thanks to the gods to whom she was indebted. The present main shrine was rebuilt in 1767 by the Ogasawara clan from Harima.Mekari Shinji Shinto ritualIn the shrine’s Shinto ritual called Mekari Shinji, wakame seaweed is cut from the ocean at low tide and offered to an altar in a ceremony conducted in the early morning hours of the first day of the New Year according to the old lunar calendar. The ritual is thought to bring about good luck and has been designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Asset by Fukuoka prefecture.

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