An amazing shrine in Japan I visited Mekari Shrine in Kitakyushu, Japan on 2nd of January. It was the first visit of the year and we say it hatsumoude in Japanese. The shrine is located very close to Kanmon Strait amazingly, so if you like, you could approach to the pricincts from the water. The strait is between Honshu (the largest one of the four major islands of Japan) and Kyushu (the southernmost island of the four). Please look at my picture and if you use Bullet Train between Honshu and Kyushu, you will move in a tunnel under Kanmon Strait. Of course, you couldn't see anything through the windows of Bullet Train. By the way, Mekari Shrine was connected to a massive historical event in the12th century. There was Battle of Dannoura in Kanmon Strait and it was the last battle of the Genpei War which was the conflict between the Genji Clan and the Heishi Clan. It was said that some people of Heishi held a banquet at the last night before the final fight in the pricincts of the shrine. But Heishi eventually lost the war and most of them disappeared in to the water.Therefore Mekari Shrine is very historical and unique one of thousands of shrines in Japan.