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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

Rise

This is another of the occasional posts introducing “Shinto-adjacent” fiction. This time, it isn’t manga, and it is originally in English. Rise An ex-gangster. A mysterious old woman concealing her true identity. A mythological world of magic and danger hiding behind everyday life. Risking his newfound freedom, Umeji Tatsuya hides the yokai identity of Nakamura Hisako, a powerful kitsune fox spirit, who offers to help him forge a mob-free future—starting with teaching him magic. Just when things are looking up, Date, a kitsune with a centuries-old grudge against his new… Read More »Rise

Women in Jinja Honchō

Revd Abë, whom I accompanied to the meeting in Kazakhstan, is a woman. In fact, everyone in the International Section of Jinja Honchō is a woman at the moment, apart from the consultants. We talked a bit about this while we were in Kazakhstan, and it seems that about 40% of the staff at Jinja Honchō are women now. What is more, Revd Abë could not think of any sections that had no women. She is also one of the three current female section heads in Jinja Honchō. On the… Read More »Women in Jinja Honchō

Kazakhstan 2026

Last week I went to Kazakhstan again, for the 24th meeting of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. I have now been to Kazakhstan so often that the tour guides recognise me. (Well, only one — but still!) Because this was the Secretariat, rather than the main Congress, there were only two of us from Jinja Honchō — me, and Revd Abë, the new head of the International Section. There was also only one day of meetings, but the timing of the flights meant… Read More »Kazakhstan 2026

Priestly Successors

One topic that Sakurai handles several times in his book is the problem of successors for priests. This is something that comes up a lot, but Sakurai is more willing than most to write clearly about the elements that make this problem particularly difficult to solve. One of the manifestations of the shortage of priests is the number of priests who are responsible for forty or fifty jinja. However, while this is quite a lot of pressure on the chief priests, they do not necessarily want to give any of… Read More »Priestly Successors

Alliances

I recently read a book entitled Jinja Kanri Un’ei Ron Nōto (Notes on Management Theory for Jinja, 神社管理運営論ノート), by Sakurai Yoshio (櫻井良生). Revd Sakurai is a priest, but his main career seems to have been in the law — his doctorate, which he got after retirement, was about arbitration processes. He teaches “Law for Priests” to trainee priests at Kōgakkan University, and a lot of the book is basically “how not to get sued”. That includes advice like “yes, you have to pay priests overtime”, for example. The Shinto community… Read More »Alliances