March 2021

I have mentioned before on this blog that there is an ongoing issue in the Shinto world, more specifically at Jinja Honchō, as a former staff member has sued it for (the Japanese equivalent of) unfair dismissal. He reported his concerns about a particular real estate transaction to two members of the board of directors (in writing, and in less than perfectly temperate language), and he was fired for harming the reputation of Jinja Honchō and disturbing its internal order. The judgement, at the Tokyo District Court, was handed down… Read More »Court Case

On February 24th, the Supreme Court of Japan issued a judgement in a case concerning a Confucian temple in a public park in Naha, Okinawa. The city had allowed the temple to use the land without charge, and the Supreme Court ruled that that was unconstitutional, and that the city was required, by law, to charge the full market rate. This is not directly related to Shinto, but the general issue of the relationship between religion and the state is of great importance to the Shinto community, and particularly the… Read More »Religion and the State in Japan

Kokugakuin University is one of the two Shinto universities in Japan. It is the older one, and it is located in Tokyo, although it also has a campus in Yokohama. At the end of February, it took over the entire back page of Jinja Shinpō to introduce some of the activities that took place over the last academic year in the Shinto Studies Department. Thanks to the pandemic, these were somewhat limited: the moon-viewing festival in October, the memorial matsuri for students of the university killed during WWII, also in… Read More »Kokugakuin University

I have mentioned in my essays that Hachiman Ōkami is actually several kami, and not always the same ones. A few weeks ago, I received a leaflet from the organisation of jinja in Amakusa, several islands just off the cost of Kyushu, which lists all 31 jinja in the area with resident chief priests, together with their kami. There are a few Hachiman jinja (Hachimangū), but they have a wide range of kami. (The names below are transcribed from the kanji, because the leaflet doesn’t give readings. That means that… Read More »Hachiman Ōkami

As I have mentioned before on this blog, and indeed on the “About” page, I work (part-time, as a consultant) for Jinja Honchō, the largest and most influential Shinto organisation in Japan. This might seem like a natural pairing. After all, I practise Shinto, and write about it on my own time. However, Jinja Honchō is a right-wing organisation, and I am not a right-wing person. Jinja Honchō is so right wing that people write books with titles like Jinja Honchō: The Extreme Right Wing Organisation That Controls The Prime… Read More »Working With Disagreements

Yesterday was the first day of the rabbit in March this year, so my local jinja, Shirahata Hachiman Daijin, held its Hatsu-u Matsuri, or First Rabbit Festival. As part of this, a large straw snake, with vegetables for facial features and a wooden sword sticking out of its tail, is made and tied onto the inner torii. The snake is left in place until the summer matsuri, in July, and so gets a bit battered over time. Today, however, it’s still fairly fresh.