A crowded day at Nishiarai-Daishi 西新井大師. All these people lined up for a hour to try and get into the temple where they could get exorcised 厄払い Some people couldn’t get into the main hall so they stood outside to listen to the session for 30 minutes. They also broadcast it across the entire place so that you could listen to it while eating yakisoba or tonjiru.
A year ago, I went to Kawasaki-Daishi which is another yakuyoke temples in Tokyo. These are shrines that specialize in exorcising evil spirits. You can bring your car here to get it blessed too.
Oh yes, I saw a car blessing ceremony at Kamakura or Nikko or Meiji Jinggu(can’t remember which). Interesting, I didn’t realise that cars could be blessed too.
I have been at Nishiarai-Daishi one year ago. It was also very crowded on that day, but my friend and I managed to get in. I did not know that this shrine specializes in exorcising evil spirits. I only knew that amulets (is this the correct word?) from this shrine can help protect you in “danger years”. Thanks for educating me.