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Norito Composition

In Issue 279 of the Journal of Shintō Studies, there is a report of a presentation by Adachi Ryō entitled “A Problem in the Composition of Norito: About the Reading and Usage of the Term Saihō”. I think the immediate content of this is of no interest to my readers (you are not likely to be writing norito), but what it shows about the place of norito in contemporary Shinto might be very interesting. First, a little bit of background. Norito are formal Shinto prayers. They are written in classical… Read More »Norito Composition

When the Tennō Leaves

The Tennō and Empress were out of Japan to make state visits to the Netherlands and Belgium from June 13th to 26th. The visit to the Netherlands reportedly involved the King and Tennō sitting down together to watch the Japan-Netherlands match at the World Cup, so it is perhaps just as well that it was a draw. Such overseas visits are, of course, an important part of the jobs of the Tennō and other members of the Imperial family. While the Tennō is out of the country, his constitutional duties… Read More »When the Tennō Leaves

Seoritsuhimë & Hayasasurahimë

In this post, I want to quickly summarise two presentations from the 2026 annual meeting of The Society of Shinto Studies, as reported in issue 279 of their journal. Both concern the Tokugawa period (1603 to 1868). The first, by Satō Mami (佐藤真実) is “The Transition of Beliefs and Conceptions Concerning the Haraedo no Kami (Seoritsuhime) from the Medieval to the Early Modern Period”, and the other, by Kimura Nagisa (木村凪沙) is “Norinaga Motoori’s Theory of the Functions of Hayasasurahime”. Both presentations concern theories about kami who are named in… Read More »Seoritsuhimë & Hayasasurahimë

Practical Priesthood Program

The back pages of the June 22nd and July 6th issues of Jinja Shinpō were all about a particular training program for priests at Kokugakuin University (國學院大學), the Shinto university in Tokyo. The first article described the program, which has just changed in its details, and the second article interviewed four students who started on the new version of the program this April. This program is a way to take the standard four-year degree, potentially qualifying for meikai (明階), the highest non-honorary level of priestly licence, if you take (and… Read More »Practical Priesthood Program

Living Traditions

This week and last, I helped out again at Asakusa Jinja’s (浅草神社) Natsumoude (夏詣) event, and it once more got me thinking about living traditions in Shinto. I didn’t have any dazzling new insights, however, so if you have been reading this blog for a while, this post may sound rather familiar. As Natsumoude happens in the run-up to Tanabata (七夕), on July 7th, one of the activities is writing Tanabata wishes on tanzaku (短冊), strips of paper that are then hung from bamboo. The jinja sets up about a… Read More »Living Traditions

Children’s Activities at Jinja

There was an interesting article on the back page of the June 15th issue of Jinja Shinpō, about educational activities for children being held at jinja. I think this is a delayed response to an installment of a regular column some months ago, in which the author asked why jinja weren’t doing this sort of thing. In his next column, he said that he had been contacted by priests who were doing that sort of thing, and apologised for his ignorance. This is, of course, an inevitable side effect of… Read More »Children’s Activities at Jinja