S P O T ／ SPOT-059

Kōbe-no-Miya Yomo Shrine (Shrine of the Head)

頭之宮四方神社こうべのみやよもうじんじゃ

Known locally and affectionately as Okashira-san — 'Mr. Head' — Kōbe-no-Miya Yomo Shrine is one of the few shrines in Japan whose spiritual jurisdiction is, specifically, the human head. The deity enshrined here is said to grant blessings for everything that occurs above the neck: scholarship, mental clarity, recovery from headaches and brain illness, the lifting of curses, hair restoration, exam success, and — increasingly in the social-media era — protection for athletes whose sports involve the head. The shrine's grounds are quiet and forested, in a remote corner of southern Mie's Taiki Town, and the votive plaques (ema) are dense with extremely specific prayers from students, surgeons, headache sufferers, and the occasional balding pilgrim. The shrine's foundation legend involves the head of a Heian-period nobleman that, according to local tradition, was washed up by a flooded river and enshrined here. The official literature describes Kōbe-no-Miya as 'the only shrine of its kind in Japan,' a claim that has been repeated for so long it functions as a piece of folk truth in its own right.