KURUMAZAKI STATION (KYOTO)
Station in a shrine with cinematic past
| The shrine gate looks like a gate to the station platform. The platform pillars are painted the same vermilion as those used in the shrine. |
| Show business people attach photos and stickers to the show business shrine at Kurumazaki Shrine, praying for hits and improved performances. |
| Ryoanji temple, a World Heritage Site and famous for its stone garden, also is located on the line. |
| A train with a retro design runs along the railway. |
Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Norikazu Tateishi
By Katsuo Kokaji
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
A single-car train stops at a platform without a roof. There is no station building nor staff. Instead, passengers are met by a pair of stone guardian dogs.
A shrine gate stands where a ticket gate should be in this quiet precinct of Kurumazaki Shrine, which has a 1,000-year history.
It could be said the station is located in the shrine, rather than near it.
The track of Keifuku Electric Railroad, more popularly known as Randen, runs along the back of houses, whose laundry seems close enough to touch the train as it passes.
Retired Keifuku conductor Kazuya Yamatani, 74, said he was surprised by the location of the station and its name. Kurumazaki means "car broken in half," which sounds like a description of an accident.
"Why is the station located in the shrine precincts, I thought?" Yamatani said. It was his first day at the company, 57 years ago. He asked his seniors, but they did not know the answer.
That day, he visited the shrine to find out the reason. The assistant chief priest told him the station was located in the shrine grounds. Instead of the shrine selling the land to the company, the shrine had asked the railway company to put a station at its entrance.
There are many shrines in the shrine precinct, the most famous of which is dedicated to show business. The nearby Uzumasa district was once known as Japan's Hollywood, and Toei Co. and Shochiku Co. still have studios in the area. The shrine was built at the end of 1957, when film stars asked if they could establish a shrine to bring good luck to show business.
When we visited, movie director Seiji Yamada, 41, was praying there. "I always visit here before shooting a movie. It helps miracles happen."
Moviemaking can be a risky business, so filmmakers often come to pray for good omens.
Yamada's new horror film, about a satanic woman who metamorphoses into a kung fu fighting cat, will be on screens this summer.
Yamada said, "As this is a scary story involving specters, I fear a curse — we're all nervous."
The shrine is not only a haven for creators of satanic feline horror flicks, with many famous stars said to visit and pray for success.
JAPANESE
The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun
