Of Ships and Shrines
Yes, I normally call them “jinja”, but I couldn’t resist the alliteration. It seems that the old Imperial Japanese Navy had a custom of installing jinja on its ships. This was not just a kamidana, but rather a full jinja, with the kami brought from a jinja that had some connection to the ship. The Navy, and the modern Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF — which are definitely not a navy), had a practice of naming ships after geographical features of Japan, which meant that a jinja connected with that feature… Read More »Of Ships and Shrines