This Shrine in Japan is Guarded by Rabbits

If you know anything about Japanese culture (or have seen any Studio Ghibli films), you'll know that animals have important symbolic significance. All over Japan, you can find statues of animals outside shops, homes and guarding temples and shrines. We've all seen Komainu, the lion dogs, and Manekineko, the beckoning cat, but what about the sweetest animal of them all - rabbits? Rabbit lovers, you're in luck. The Tsuki Shrine in Saitama, Japan, is one of the only shrines guarded by rabbits, with lots of great rabbit sculptures and fountains dotted around the grounds. This is definitely a destination to put on your next travel list.

Posted by nightqueen

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Rabbits are so underrated. We all know that dogs and cats are cute, but they've had their time. Rabbits have adorable ears, little twitching noses, and the way they hop is too cute to handle. If you think it's time for rabbits to be recognized as the awesome animals they are, you need to pay a visit to Tsuki Shrine.

Via Atlas Obscura
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Rabbits have special significance in Japanese mythology. The dark patches on the moon that we can see with the naked eye are shaped like a rabbit (have you ever noticed?), and when some folks realized this centuries ago, the myth of the moon rabbit was born.

Via Atlas Obscura
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The Tsuki Shrine was established around 771 and was originally used as a sacred storehouse where tributes to the gods were kept. The storehouse got its name sometime in the Middle Ages, and was associated with the moon.

Via Atlas Obscura
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As the rabbit is seen in the moon, the rabbit became the shinshi, or divine messenger, that serves and protects the shrine (instead of the commonly used lion dogs).

Via Time Out
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Statues and fountains can be found all over the grounds of the shrine, including in this lake.

Via Atlas Obscura
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The Tsuki Shrine is the homage to rabbits the little fluffy creatures deserve, and we think all rabbit lovers should put this destination on their next trip. (Local tip: while you're at Tsuki Shrine, pop into the antiques market next to it and find your very own little rabbit statue to bring back home with you.) Visitors might as well go to Rabbit Island while they're in Japan. Sound like a hoppingly good trip.

Via Atlas Obscura