High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Yasaka Shrine once called Gion Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Gion District of Kyoto, Japan. Situated at the east end of Shij -d ri (Fourth Avenue), the shrine includes several buildings, including gates, a main hall and a stage. Initial construction on the Shrine began in 656. The Shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the early Heian period. In 965, Emperor Murakami ordered that Imperial messengers were sent to report important events to the guardian kami of Japan. These heihaku were initially presented to 16 shrines; and in 991, Emperor Ichij added three more shrines to Murakami's list. Three years later in 994, Ichij refined the scope of that composite list by adding Umenomiya Shrine and Gion Shrine. From 1871 through 1946, the Yasaka Shrine was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha, meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines.