Promoting Jingū

The hatsumōdë survey reported in the 3^rd March issue of Jinja Shinpō included quite a few responses from jinja that were taking particular steps to encourage local people to receive Jingū Taima, the ofuda from Isë Jingū. (The previous post talks about the overall state of play there.) In this post, I want to look at some of the things that they are doing.

The most common activity is to put up posters or nobori flags, or distribute literature. (Nobori flags are long but narrow flags, hung vertically so that they go most of the way down the pole, and fixed along the top and the pole. They are very common for advertising in Japan, and not just at jinja.) Often, this material is supplied by Jinja Honchō or the prefectural Jinjachō. The article says that this shows that these are effective, but given the overall statistics I am less sanguine.

Another common approach is to distribute free kamidana. Strictly speaking, these are simple ofuda stands, generally in roughly the shape of a jinja sanctuary, but only a little bigger than the ofuda themselves. The idea behind these campaigns is that it makes it easier for people who do not already have somewhere to put the ofuda to ask for one.

There were also a variety of direct approaches. One priest said that they urge people attending the year-end purification to receive Jingū Taima if they don’t already, and another said that they publicise it to members of the adherents’ society and people having their weddings at the jinja (that must be a larger jinja). One jinja made a list of all local residents, sent the sōdai out to distribute Jingū Taima, and recorded what people said if they refused them — they now have five years of data.

Getting people to visit Isë Jingū also seems to be quite popular. This can be a simple matter of organising group visits, some of which are reported in Jinja Shinpō, but probably not all. One priest said that they had joined the local chamber of commerce, and that a visit to Jingū would be organised with them next year. It seems that a number of places specifically organise visits for children at elementary school. However, other priests reported that these sorts of plans had been interrupted by the pandemic and not restarted, and still others said that the ageing society had led to the end of the practice.

Sometimes, the visits are linked to particular events. Isë Jingū has an annual ritual of harvest thanksgiving, which adherents who grow rice are encouraged to attend, and some priests report organising that through their jinja. There are also a number of events connected with the Shikinen Sengū, and jinja that are close to Isë, or to the routes taken by the trees being taken to Isë, seem to be keen to get people to attend those.

At the end of this section, however, the article reports a priest saying “We should stop distributing Jingū Taima. Let corporations pay for the Shikinen Sengū”. And that brings us to the opinions on this topic, which I will look at in the next post.