Kaeru Shrine かえる神社

Official explanation

Kaeru Shrine is a Shinto sanctuary dedicated to frogs. Kaeru means frog, and since “gero” is the sound of a frog croaking in Japanese, the people of Gero made the obvious choice to adopt the frog as the town’s unofficial mascot. Frogs of all sorts can be found throughout Gero: as designs on manhole covers, for sale in souvenir shops, and of course hopping across the road in rainy weather.

Built in 2010, Kaeru Shrine pays respect to the town’s mascot. The shrine is filled with various frog figures, including one posing near the purification basin, little green frogs dotted along the inside of the shrine, and a stone frog deity where visitors offer prayers. Even the votive tablets (ema) on which visitors write wishes are illustrated with frogs.

Read the full explanation

Gero is dotted with shrines, but Kaeru Shrine is the only one dedicated to the town’s mascot. The shrine is a particularly auspicious place to make an important wish, because in Japan frogs are a symbol of good luck. There are many reasons for this belief, one being that the word kaeru also means “to return,” and as such implies that one will return safely.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.