Shimogamo Shrine and its partner, Kamigamo Shrine, form the paired Kamo shrines of Kyoto, and together they serve as the city's spiritual sentinels. Shimogamo is the elder of the two, believed to be roughly a century older than Kamigamo. The shrine venerates Tamayori-hime and her father, kami associated with thunder and divine protection. During the early Heian period, the shrine became an object of imperial patronage, and both Kamo shrines were designated as the chief Shinto shrines of the former Yamashiro Province. In 965, Emperor Murakami ordered that imperial messengers report important events to the guardian kami enshrined here. Emperors made personal pilgrimages across the centuries: Emperor Kanmu in 794, Emperor Suzaku in 942 to give thanks for the restoration of peace, Emperor Horikawa in 1088, and Emperor Go-Shirakawa in 1156. The shrine occupied the first rank of government-supported shrines from 1871 through 1946.

Shimogamo Shrine embodies the Shinto tradition of Shikinen Sengu -- the periodic rebuilding of sacred structures to renew them both physically and spiritually. The earliest records of the shrine's existence date to the reign of Emperor Sujin, around 97 B.C., when part of the complex already required repairs. By the 8th century, it had taken its modern form. From 1036 to 1322, the shrine was rebuilt at approximately 21-year intervals with remarkable consistency -- nearly three centuries of cyclical renewal. Practical constraints eventually interrupted the pattern, but a major reconstruction in 1629 restored the shrine strongly to its Heian-period form. The two main shrine buildings, the Higashi Honden (East Main Hall) and the Nishi Honden (West Main Hall), underwent further reconstruction four times in the 17th and 18th centuries and once more in 1863. Today, limited repairs continue at the traditional 21-year intervals, maintaining a rhythm of renewal that stretches back nearly a millennium.

The shrine complex encompasses 30 acres, mostly surrounded by the ancient Tadasu no Mori forest. The approach, called the Sando, passes through multiple torii gates and serves as the processional path for festivals and ceremonies. Bridges and covered corridors line the route. Unlike its sister shrine Kamigamo, Shimogamo follows an axial layout defined by the Sando, traditional in Shinto architecture. Among the most distinctive features are the seven Kotosha shrines, arranged side by side in a single courtyard and likely dating to the Edo period. Each is dedicated to one or two gods of the Chinese zodiac, and visitors customarily pray before the deity corresponding to their birth year. The East Main Hall enshrines Kamo Taketsunumi no Mikoto, a god said to have appeared as a golden hawk to guide Emperor Jimmu. The West Main Hall enshrines his daughter, Tamayorihime no Mikoto, who is said to have given birth to the deity worshipped at Kamigamo Shrine. Public access to these innermost halls remains restricted, as is traditional, opening only for specific festivals or priestly ceremonies.

Shimogamo Shrine is not a museum. It remains one of the most visited sites in Kyoto during New Year celebrations, when crowds stream through the forest to pray for good fortune. Shinto priests still play kemari there -- the ancient court game in which players keep a leather ball aloft using only their feet, a sport that predates European football by centuries. The Kamo clan, whose ancestors first established the shrine, still live in the surrounding neighborhood, maintaining a connection between family, place, and practice that spans well over a thousand years. As one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto designated by UNESCO, Shimogamo represents the deep continuity of Japanese spiritual life -- not as a relic of the past, but as a place where the rituals of the 6th century still unfold within a forest that has never been cleared.