Uneme Jinja

Uneme Shrine stands on the northwest bank of Sarusawa Pond as an outer sub-shrine of Kasuga Grand Shrine. According to legend, a court lady (uneme) of the Nara period, grief-stricken that the Emperor's affections had waned, cast herself into the pond. The shrine was built to comfort her spirit, and the hall reportedly turned overnight to face west, away from the water. The annual Uneme Festival, held on the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar month, features lantern-lit boats drifting across the pond.