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More Calm at the Oversight Council

On October 22nd, the Oversight Council of Jinja Honchō held its regular October meeting, and the event was reported in the November 11th issue of Jinja Shinpō. As indicated in the title, this meeting seems to have gone smoothly. Most importantly, all the budgets were passed, which means that Jinja Honchō can continue functioning. After the report on Jinja Honchō’s activities over the previous financial year (which finished at the end of June), one of the councillors, the head of Gunma Prefectural Jinjachō, who might be called Revd Shinpo (with… Read More »More Calm at the Oversight Council

Ofuda from Okuni Jinja

Okuni Jinja (小國神社), which is in Shizuoka Prefecture, has just updated its English website. They have added pages about gokitō and home veneration. To be specific, they hired me to write the pages, and a local web company to do the layout. Both pages are very detailed, because I was writing with people who know nothing about Shinto practice in mind. This time, they did not hire me through Jinja Honchō, so this was an independent job. Because I was just working for an individual jinja, I was able to… Read More »Ofuda from Okuni Jinja

Yasukuni: Peace Jinja?

The autumn Reitaisai (例大祭) at Yasukuni Jinja (靖國神社) was held from October 17th to 19th, and, as usual, reported on the front page of Jinja Shinpō. The Reitaisai is (are?) the most important annual matsuri at the jinja, and Yasukuni has two, one in spring and one in autumn. These days, and the Japanese anniversary of the end of the war (not called “DA Day”, oddly enough) are the occasions on which people pay attention to who visits, and what is said. The article reports all the events that happened,… Read More »Yasukuni: Peace Jinja?

Okinawa

The 26th October issue of Jinja Shinpō had a front-page article about the establishment of the Prefectural Sōdai Association in Okinawa. This means that there are now such associations in all 47 prefectures of Japan. However, it is sixty years since the 46th was founded, in 1966. Why the delay? The first reason is political. Until 1972, Okinawa was under US occupation. While Japan still had “residual sovereignty”, the Japanese government had no authority there, and the association of Shinto with the wartime government made it hard to found Shinto… Read More »Okinawa

Makurazaki Jinja

Makurazaki Jinja was the topic of an article in the October 12th issue of Jinja Shinpō. The jinja is located in Makurazaki City, in southern Kyushu, and it is one of the jinja being specifically supported in Jinja Honchō’s program for jinja in depopulated areas. It seems to have been particularly effective in this jinja’s case. It was designated in 2024, and since then, according to the article, the jinja and its ujiko, and the prefectural Young Priests’ Association, have been working really hard. There seem to have been two… Read More »Makurazaki Jinja

Cross-Cultural Understanding

The September 28th issue of Jinja Shinpō (the trip to Kazakhstan has put me behind) had a front page article about a research meeting of the “Society to Correct the Relationship Between The State and Religion” (政教関係を正す会). It is an oversimplification to say that this society’s purpose is to get the Prime Minister and Tennō to visit Yasukuni Jinja again, but it is an informative oversimplification. Most of the time, they are concerned with what they think are inappropriate limits on the involvement of state actors with religion. That was… Read More »Cross-Cultural Understanding