Year of the Snake: Five Shrines to Visit in 2025

Symbol of Life Force, Protector Deity of Water, Grantor of Wealth

Customs related to worshipping serpents as deities or regarding them as divine messengers exist throughout the world. The belief that snakes bring eternal youth and longevity or embody hopes for renewal overlaps with their hibernation and skin-shedding behavior.

In Japan, numerous examples of Jōmon period (ca. 10,000–300 BC) pottery depict serpent motifs, indicating that some sort of belief connected with snakes existed even then. In recorded history, snakes (hebi in Japanese) have been revered as the deity of water and particularly of springs, since they live in marshy areas.

Ugajin figure fronting Bentendō shrine in Shinobazu, Ueno, Tokyo. (© Pixta)

In the Nara period (710–94), belief in the serpent as the deity of water was conflated with devotion to Benzaiten, the Buddhist protector deity, sharing many similarities with Saraswati, a river goddess in India. Beginning in the Middle Ages, Benzaiten and the serpent deity Ugajin, said to bring fortune and plentiful harvests, were viewed as one and the same, and both were labeled deities of wealth.

There are shrines to sacred serpents everywhere in Japan. A visit to such a shrine may bring prosperity in the coming year.

Many shrines revering serpents, which are connected to water deity worship, have basins where money can be ritually cleansed. (Courtesy Hebikubo Shrine)

Ōmiwa Shrine

(Sakurai, Nara Prefecture)

Ancient chronicles often mentioned the beautiful conical shape of Mount Miwa. (Courtesy Ōmiwa Shrine)

In ancient times, Sakurai in Nara Prefecture was the seat of the imperial court. The Kojiki and the Nihon shoki historical chronicles mentioned soaring Mount Miwa as the dwelling of the deities. Ōmiwa Shrine, which worships the mountain itself, is said to be the oldest extant Shintō shrine and continues to practice nature worship as it existed before the arrival of Buddhism in Japan.

Tradition has it that the deity enshrined here, Ōmononushi-no-ōkami, is an attractive small snake revered as the kami of industry, medicine, and sake brewing. The shrine draws worshippers from around the country.

The shrine’s worship hall, rebuilt in the seventeenth century, is designated an important cultural property. The entire mountain is venerated as the deity, so there is no main shrine. (Courtesy Ōmiwa Shrine)

The Minokamisugi cedar stands in front of the worship hall. A snake embodying the enshrined deity is believed to live in the tree. Worshippers often leave eggs, reputed to be the snake’s favorite food, as a means of gaining divine favor.

Sakurai, the site of several other notable temples, shrines, and ancient ruins, is hoping to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the future. Visitors here, in the birthplace of the nation, can no doubt picture life as it was in days past.

The white snake appearing at the Minokamisugi cedar is nicknamed Mi-san. (Courtesy Ōmiwa Shrine)

Kanahebisui Shrine

(Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture)

A stream flows down from the mountain behind the shrine. (© Shibuya Nobuhiro)

Kanahebisui Shrine, ensconced in a deep forest, is a 30-minute rail and taxi journey from central Sendai, the principal city of the Tōhoku region. The shrine has an unusual origin story.

Sanjō Munechika, a talented swordsmith living in tenth-century Heiankyō (now Kyoto) was ordered to make a sword for Emperor Ichijō. Searching through the country for the pure water needed for sword-making, he set up a forge by a stream venerating a water deity. But croaking frogs nearby interfered with his concentration, and his swords failed to turn out right. One day, he left a figure of a snake in a rice paddy and the croaking ceased right away. Munechika then succeeded in making a fine sword, thanks to the deity’s blessing, and he offered a metal snake to the shrine as a token of gratitude. The kana in the shrine’s name derives from kane (steel).

Top: Jamon stone charms reputed to bring luck with money. Bottom left: Kanahebisama votive offerings. Bottom right: A white snake with an omikuji fortune-telling slip in its mouth. (© Shibuya Nobuhiro)

The object revered at Suijin Shrine is the snake figure created by Munechika; the shrine’s name was later changed to Kanahebisui. In the millennium since then, the shrine has been popular among the faithful as the protector of wealth, life force, and livelihood. In the shrine precincts, lines of stones with snake motifs add a mysterious touch.

The shrine’s approach underwent renovations in 2020 with the addition of a structure that now gives it a contemporary air. A long wooden roof covers the path to the shrine and incorporates a modern structure housing a rest area, a café, and an art gallery, offering visitors a more diverse experience.

Visitors can pause for a break at the Sando Terrace café. (© Shibuya Nobuhiro)

Hyakuja Benzaiten Shrine

(Mōka, Tochigi Prefecture)

A sacred spring washing away sins and impurities wells up in the shrine precincts. (© Shibuya Nobuhiro)

Hyakuja Benzaiten Shrine is an 8-minute walk from Kugeta Station on the locally-operated Mōka Railway line. Entering the shrine precincts, visitors may be taken aback by the large, coiled snake figures on either side of the shrine approach. These white snakes, messengers of the kami, are the shrine’s guardians.

One of the serpent figures in front of the worship hall. (© Shibuya Nobuhiro)

The shrine, which originated 500 years ago, shares a tutelary deity with the famed Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima, Hiroshima. Built near a pond, it abounds in natural water sources and greenery, and it is said that in the past, a white snake resided in the shrine’s pond.

A small waterfall, the Zeniarai no Taki, trickles behind the worship hall. Its water, reputed to bring health and wealth, draws visitors to wash paper bills and coins there. An assortment of shrine souvenirs, from strap-shaped amulets bearing a snake motif to ema votive tablets and shrine ink stamps, is available to choose from.

On weekends, the Mōka Railway offers a special steam locomotive service. Riding a train pulled by a locomotive gushing steam is a thrilling experience for all, whether they are railway enthusiasts or not. The pottery town of Mashiko is also on this line, providing additional interest to visitors to the shrine.

Left: The Zeniarai no Taki money-washing waterfall. (© Pixta) Right: The shrine’s ink stamp depicting a white snake. (© Shibuya Nobuhiro)

Iwakuni Shirohebi Shrine

(Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture)

Janome “snake-eye” swirling motifs and snake figures abound throughout the shrine precincts. (© Pixta)

Despite the strong connection between water deity worship and white snakes, such reptiles have only been observed in a few places. One of those is eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, home to a species of white snake, designated a natural treasure, that is not a spontaneous mutation. During the Edo period (1603–1868), such snakes reportedly guarded the rice granaries of the Iwakuni clan against mice.

These white snakes, conflated with the deity Benzaiten, are venerated at small shrines here and there in the city. In keeping with local religious beliefs, Iwakuni Shirohebi Shrine was erected in 2012 to welcome the deity venerated at Itsukushima Shrine, lying opposite on the other side of Hiroshima Bay. At the new shrine, the white snake is a messenger of the kami and not itself the object of veneration.

Serpent figures abound. This one is at the chōzuya purification basin. (© Pixta)

White snakes are cared for at a facility visited by tourists. They can also drop in to the Shirohebi Resource Center and the Iwakuni Shirohebi Museum adjacent to the shrine, and walk to the famous Kintaikyō Bridge nearby.

Live white snakes can be viewed at the Iwakuni Shirohebi Museum. (© Pixta)

Hebikubo Shrine

(Shinagawa, Tokyo)

After paying their respects at the prayer hall, visitors can see the Hakuja Benzaiten Shrine deep inside the shrine precincts. (Courtesy Hebikubo Shrine)

Tokyo also has shrines associated with snakes. One neighborhood in Shinagawa was known as Hebikubo in the past, and although this serpent-venerating shrine is formally known as Tenso Shrine, it is familiarly called Hebikubo Shrine. The shrine was created in the fourteenth century to give thanks to the kami enshrined there for bringing rain after a long drought.

It is believed that a white snake once lived in the shrine precincts but that it lost its home after the water there dried up. Villagers had a dream that the snake wished to return, so they dug a pond and enshrined the deity Benzaiten nearby. This is the Hakuja Benzaiten Shrine behind the shrine’s main hall, to which the faithful pray for financial success, happy marriage, and recovery from illness.

Top: The Hebikubo Seisui money-washing basin, where people hope to have luck with money. Bottom: The white snake monument, believed to impart life force when stroked. (Courtesy Hebikubo Shrine)

Hebikubo Shrine sells a wide range of omamori amulets; a special one containing skin shed by Iwakuni’s white snakes is sold on a fair day that comes around once every 60 days. On that day, the local shopping street also offers foods and events associated with white snakes, making it an auspicious time for visiting the shrine.

Even the shopping street leading to the shrine follows the serpent theme with serpent-shaped streetlights. A white snake is also a local mascot character. (© Shibuya Nobuhiro)

(Originally published in Japanese. Text by Shibuya Nobuhiro and Nippon.com. Banner photo © Pixta.)