David Chart

I have written three posts about the natsumoude events at Asakusa Jinja, but I haven’t said which the kami of the jinja are. Asakusa Jinja… Read More »Kami of Asakusa

While I was volunteering at Asakusa Jinja’s natsumoude, on July 7th, the jinja held a special ceremony, or “shinji”, to symbolically clean and purify the… Read More »Well-Washing Ceremony

“O-Sanpo Mairi” means “visiting a jinja while taking a casual stroll”. An “o-sanpo” is a walk with no particular purpose, and so the whole phrase… Read More »O-Sanpo Mairi

How many Inari jinja are there in Japan? Tl;dr: 3,000 and 30,000 and 300,000 are all possible answers, depending on what you count as an… Read More »How Many Inari Jinja?

Asakusa Jinja has special goshuin for its natsumoude, shown in the photographs. The blue one is the natsumoude goshuin, so you can get it with… Read More »Asakusa Goshuin

The Sendaikujihongi is an ancient collection of Shinto myths, and most people have never heard of it. This is even true in Japan. This is… Read More »The Sendaikujihongi