April 2020

At the moment, there is something of a boom for goshuin in Japan. A goshuin is a vermilion stamp that you can receive at a jinja or Buddhist temple to record the fact that you visited there and paid your respects. They were originally Buddhist, and recorded the fact that you had copied and offered a sutra. I am not sure how they work at Buddhist temples these days, but at jinja they are a record of your sanpai: visiting and paying your respects to the kami. In theory, you… Read More »The Fate of Goshuinchō

The big project I was working on with Jinja Honchō has just been completed. The big project was a small booklet called “Jinja: Heart of Japan”. This is an English booklet, intended to introduce jinja and Shinto to foreign visitors. Long-time readers of this blog may spot a bit of overlap with the purpose of Mimusubi. The booklet itself is intended to be distributed at jinja and information centres for tourists, and is not, at the moment, available online to the general public. I don’t know whether that will change… Read More »Jinja: Heart of Japan