December 12, 2016 : First Visit to Seimei Shrine
© 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)
For the first time in my life, I visited the Seimei Shrine, which enshrines a legendary leading onmyodo specialist, Abe Seimei.
Actually, my name was suggested by this shrine, and my name partly includes the part of his name written in Kanji characters.
I was really surprised when I realized that this shrine is just a few minutes' walk from the apartment room where I spent my old rounin days.
That room, where I once shared my worries and dreams, where I once spent my youth, was always with me at that time.
One day I had to leave that room, and soon after, one of the dreams I shared with that room came true : to successfully enter a medical school.
That's the story of more than 20 years ago, but the memory and the moment with that room are still alive in my heart.
And still, I strongly believe that the rest of the dreams I once shared with that room will come true from now on.
A few days ago, while walking in the area where I spent my rounin days, I happened to see a sign indicating the location of the shrine :
The moment I realized that my rounin days were actually near Seimei Shrine, the shrine once gave me my name.
I was surprised by the fact that I didn't know this, but in fact, I started my career near Seimei Shrine.
What a coincidence. I only knew that the shrine gave me my name, and I didn't know where the shrine was.
But as it turned out, I spent my rounin days near the shrine without knowing it.
This coincidence is a kind of miracle for me, because in my memory, whenever I was worried, the shrine that gave me my name was always right next to me, just a few minutes' walk from my room.
So my first impression when I came here was that I had finally come to my soul shrine!
I tried to donate some money and there were two options, 221 yen according to Seimei's birthday on February 21 and 222 yen according to my birthday on February 22.
In the end, I chose 222 yen, because after all, they gave me my name according to my birthday. lol
I'm really glad I came here today, and I'll definitely come here from time to time from now on.