Ishikiri shrine approach shopping street

Welcome to Ishikiri Shrine approach shopping street! 
On 7 March, we did an online live “Retro but Lively ~Ishikiri Shopping Street Walking Tour”

We started from Ema-den, the shrine gate with a sword on top of the gate, and walked in front of the shrine and walked through the shopping street. (Well, the building looks like a temple gate, but temples and shrines were considered the same in the past).

The sword is a symbol of the shrine and it’s Goshintai ~object of worship believed to contain the spirit of a deity. The formal name of the shrine is Ishikiri Tsurugiya Jinja (石切劔箭神社).  Ishikiri 石切 means “stone-cut” and Tsurugiya 劔箭 (alternatively simpler form of Kanji is 剣矢) means “sword-arrow”. The power of God is sharp like a sword that it can even cut a stone, and strong like an arrow that it penetrates it. This shine has a very long history. It is said that its origins can be traced back over 2600 years ago. This shrine is a so-called Ishikiri-san, or denbo no kamisama -“God of swellings” and very popular among the locals. 

There are two stones in front of the shrine called Ohyakudoishi お百度石 ~100 times stone. People who wish to be healed visit this shrine and walk between the two stones 100 times praying profusely so their health may be restored. 

There are about 100 interesting small shops along the 900m shrine approach, like old-fashioned stores selling traditional street food such as oden (Japanese hotchpotch), wagashi (Japanese sweets), tsukemono (pickles), senbei (hand-made rice cracker), as well as an assortment of household goods. There are also quite a few uranai shops that do fortunetelling.  

First, we dropped by the Yamato-ya shop. They sell delicious oden (simmered vegetables, fish meat products, deep fried tofu, konnyaku, etc. with dashi broth and yomogi (mugwort) products – deep fried yomogi and yomogi soba. Yomogi is a nice fragrant vegetable and it’s my favorite 🙂  I didn’t eat this time, but I visited this place twice before for lunch. Inside the restaurant is specious and we can relax and enjoy the meal.  

Next, I dropped by Nunoichiya 布一屋. They bake katayaki senbei – really hard senbei. How hard is it? They say it’s the hardest one in Osaka! Senbei usually refers to rice crackers, but the ingredients of this senbei are only flour and sugar. 

The shop owner showed me how to eat it ~ do not bite it. Just break it with your hands and put it in your mouth to melt. You’ll see me in the live video showing you how hard it is!

Just in front of the senbei shop, a very appetizing aroma drew my attention. The shop owner was roasting goma – sesame in his shop. 

Then we visited Tsukemono 漬物 ~ a pickles shop called Tatsumi. I’m impressed by the shop’s hospitality. Actually, this is my fourth time to visit this Ishikiri shopping street, each time I pass by this tsukemono shop, the staff provides me free tea even before I buy anything. This time around, they invited us to relax at a nice cozy space at the back of the shop. 

The staff was also kind enough to introduce me to the antique items on display. These items were merely for entertaining customers. They love chatting and making the customer feel relaxed and comfortable. Their omotenashi (hospitality) surely made me feel at ease. 

Next, we came by the Japanese sweet shop, Baigetsudō 梅月堂. They sell Yomogi sweet products like Yomogi daifuku (sweet mochi – dough mixed with mugwort and filled with sweet red bean paste), Yomogi dango (the triple color dango in a stick), Warabimochi (bracken-starch dumplings), Ichigo daifuku (strawberry sweet mochi), etc. These yummy goodies makes me salivate! 

There is a nice resting and eating area just in front of the sweet shop, so we decided to have tea and sweets! Of course, the tea is free 🙂 

There are many fortune-telling shops in this shrine approach. We didn’t have time to drop by though. 

We then noticed a unique signboard. It’s Kanpō 漢方 – Chinese medicine store. There are only a few shops here now but my guide told me there used to be many.

We walked up a hill and finished the live tour in front of the Ishikiri big buddha. This buddha is privately owned but anyone can still pay a visit. 

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog. If you’re interested, I also invite you to watch the live tour video.  🙂 

After the tour, we had lunch at an Akashiyaki 明石焼き restaurant. 

Why don’t you join our next online tour? You can participate in the live tour and ask questions on the spot!