Long-Distance Relationship

Revd Tagawa’s series of columns about her career as a priest continued in the 15^th September issue of Jinja Shinpō. In her previous column, she talked about the success of a crowdfunding campaign, and as a result of that people had started to visit the jinja from outside Saga Prefecture. She had just started to work on expanding the range of omamori and such when the pandemic hit.

The precincts were quickly empty again, and Revd Tagawa wondered whether the jinja would go back to the way it was. At the same time, a long-term relationship of mutual support with someone ended without marriage (this is a translation of the Japanese, which is unclear in a way that is clearly deliberate), and she felt empty. She says that, even while she was conveying the prayers of others to the kami, she did not know to whom she should pray.  She had put the jinja first for twenty years, and felt that marrying and “connecting lives” (which I think must mean giving birth to the next generation’s chief priest) was also part of her duty as chief priest. She thought that if she continued to serve the kami, they would surely arrange a connection, but it didn’t work out like that.

Even so, there was no-one else to do the daily offerings, so no matter how depressed she was, she had to keep going. Every month she drew a fortune at Imari Jinja, and for several months in succession she kept drawing “bad fortune” (kyō  凶). But as time passed, she remembered that her life goal was to serve as the chief priest of Fukumo Hachimangū (福母八幡宮), and while ideally she wanted to do that with a husband, she would do it by herself if necessary.

At that point she got a direct message on Instagram from the chief priest of a jinja in Aomori Prefecture, Hirota Jinja (廣田神社). The message was inviting her to participate in an Instalive, as this was a form of religious promotion that they could actually do during the pandemic. She says that from the beginning they felt a connection that went beyond words, and when he first came to Saga Prefecture to meet her, he proposed.

They live at opposite ends of Japan. Neither of them can move to live with the other, because they are both the chief priests of their jinja. The conditions did not look great, but he said that he was sure that they could make a marriage work while still protecting the things that were important to them. Revd Tagawa (as she wasn’t then) says she was deeply moved by his words.

And when she went to Imari Jinja (伊萬里神社) to draw a fortune again, she got “Great Good Fortune” — a happy home and a happy marriage. This, she believes, is a connection from the kami.