Wolves' familiy Is Welcome at Musashi Mitake Shrine in West Tokyo

Regarding Musashi Mitake Shrine, which I introduced on the 24th, there is a unique characteristic of them. It is not about the shrine is guarded by wolves. Actually this shrine is not only shrine that worships wolves since wolves were generally considered as a beneficial creature in Japan. They hunt plant-eating animals which give damage to people's vegetable field and woods. So old-time Japanese people thought they were good animals.

Then what is the unique point of Musashi Mitake Shrine? It probably started recent years, but the shrine welcome pet animals especially dogs since dogs are a family of wolves. The cable cars going up to the mountain made "Pets Area" in the cars and people can take their dogs without putting them into a cage or a carry bag as shown in the upper center photo.

Also at the entrance of the shrine property, the shrine has a washbasin as same as all other shrines. It is to wash visitors' hands and mouth to cleanse before making wish. As the photo upper right hand side is showing, the shrine prepare a water bucket for visitors' pets, too.

Pets are not only being able to enter the shrine ground but also pet owners can ask the Shinto priests to pray for their pets' health. The lower right hand side photo is showing a traditional Shinto purification item called "Katashiro(Substitutional paper doll)". It usually has a human shape and people write their name on it when they ask Shinto priests to pray for them. Shinto priest will practice a ritual to burn the paper doll and the doll would carry away their health problems or bad lucks. The Musashi Mitake Shrine provides the service for dogs, too. So people write their dogs' name on the dog paper doll and ask a ritual to pray for their dogs' health there.

Moreover the votive wooden tablet, "Ema", in the lower center photo is a usual Shinto item to make a wish. People buy the tablet at shrines and write their wishes on the backside and hang it to present to gods. The tablet "Ema" there has a design of the guardian wolf and many people write some wishes about their pets. The shrine sells lucky charms for dogs , too.

Thus, this shrine is a dog friendly shrine and it would be a rare characteristic for Shinto shrines. In fact many people are visiting there with their dogs and it seems this place is now popular among dog owners.