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David Chart

Start of Weaving

The ceremonies to mark the beginnings of the various parts of the 63rd Shikinen Sengū continue. The 8th December issue of Jinja Shinpō reported on another — the ceremony to mark the start of weaving. I reported on the ceremony to mark the start of spinning a few months ago, so that has clearly progressed far enough for them to move to the next stage. This ceremony was held on November 27th, at the factory in Kyoto where the weaving will be carried out. The company specialises in artistic weaving,… Read More »Start of Weaving

Some Videos

A couple of videos involving jinja have recently been released. First, one from Akita Prefectural Police, warning people against cons on social media: “What does this have to do with Shinto?” you might ask, apart from starring a miko, that is. Well, er, nothing. However, the jinja where this was filmed has been running self-defence classes for its miko in cooperation with the prefectural police for years, and so they got talking about the police’s anti-fraud campaign. That led to the jinja agreeing to work with them. Apparently, the superhero… Read More »Some Videos

Praying to Pass

Yesterday, I went to my local jinja, Shirahata Hachiman Daijin, to pray that my daughter will pass her university entrance exams. (Her first one is on Sunday.) She didn’t go; she was too busy studying. This is, in general, normal. Not that I’ve ever done it before, but then my daughter has never taken university entrance exams before. First, praying for success in exams is normal. I don’t know percentages, but pretty much every jinja has omamori for exam success, and jinja that have a reputation for such requests, particularly… Read More »Praying to Pass

Talking about the War

In the December 1st issue of Jinja Shinpō they completed the reprinting of a series of three articles by Ashizu Uzuhiko (葦津珍彦), originally published in 1963. These articles set out Ashizu’s position on the war. He argues that the claim, common then and now, that Japan was motivated purely by imperialist ambitions is unjustified. Most Japanese, he says, genuinely believed that the purpose of the war was to liberate Asia from white imperialism (a phrase he actually uses), and the result of the war was, in fact, to bring about… Read More »Talking about the War

Heirs to the Jinja

The 1st December issue of Jinja Shinpō contained the new instalment of Revd Tagawa’s column, picking up the story after her marriage. She opens by saying that, ever since she became chief priest at the age of 24, she had worried about who would look after the jinja if she became pregnant and gave birth. And then, almost before she knew it, she was in her thirties, had been married for two years, and the ujiko had started asking whether there were going to be children soon. She was feeling… Read More »Heirs to the Jinja

Kumano Engi

Jinja Shinpō started a new article series in the 24th November issue, in which people will write about items relevant to the history of Shinto held by Kokugakuin and Kōgakkan Universities. This looks interesting, and I may well write about these articles quite frequently. (The plan is one every other week, so I guess one per university per month.) The first article was about an item owned by Kokugakuin University (國學院大學), called Kumano Engi (熊野縁起). This is a pair of picture scrolls, dating from the early Edo period, telling the… Read More »Kumano Engi