[1] On every second Sunday in April, one of the 3 major festivals in Kyoto, Yasurai Matsuri, is held at the shrine.

In 1001, however, the shrine was moved to its present-day location as a response to an epidemic that had hit the Kyoto area a year earlier.

Through music and dance, the festival attempts to appease petrels around Kyoto with cherry blossom petals in their beaks, which were then believed to be spreading disease.

These shops' specialty are aburimochi - skewered, roasted rice cakes that are a traditional Kyoto confection.

The two restaurants, named Ichiwa and Kazariya, have been open since 1000 and 1656 respectively and are located immediately outside the shrine's east gate.