The temple complex is the venue for archery contests (Tōshiya) on the west veranda and the Rite of the Willow, where worshippers are touched on the head with a sacred willow branch to cure and prevent headaches. Both take place in January each year.
The Inquisitive Reader, by this point, could have been muttering something like “This verbiage is all very well, Hughesy, but where’s the photographic evidence?” if I hadn’t taken steps tpoo avoid the question. TIR might not be staved off with a bland statement about cameras and video equipment being forbidden. But that’s the way it is. Anticipating the problem, I shelled out for the souvenir booklet, and these probable breaches of copyright will really have to do, along with the assurance it’s something best experienced in the physical dimension rather than a two-dimensional image.
The weariness factor was starting to set in as we left the temple, but there was a bus stop conveniently located half way along the northern perimeter wall. A bus appeared within a matter of minutes to whisk us back to Kyoto station.