David Chart

The August 18th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article about a summer matsuri at Nishinomiya (“Western Sanctuary”) Jinja (西宮神社) in Nishinomiya City, Hyōgo Prefecture. (The jinja is named after the city. “Nishinomiya” was originally applied to a group of jinja around Hirota Jinja (廣田神社), or to Hirota Jinja itself depending on the source you read, because they were (and are) to the west of Kyoto. It seems that the name was formally applied to the area in which this jinja is sited, and that it took its name from… Read More »Summer Ebisu

The August 4th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article about a one-day miko (巫女) experience event organised by Okayama Prefectural Jinjachō. The event took place at Funakawa Hachimangū (船川八幡宮) and was open to any woman, not just those already associated with a jinja or from the local area. The Jinjachō started organising these in 2018, but because the pandemic interrupted, this year’s was the fifth. The goal is to increase people’s familiarity with jinja, and it is held at a different jinja every time. The day started with a… Read More »The Miko Experience

The Gokoku Jinja (護國神社) are, as I have mentioned before, local jinja enshrining the war dead. Basically, there is one per prefecture, but there are some prefectures without one (including Kanagawa, where I live, and Tokyo), and others with two or more, so there are 52 in total. These jinja are all members of an association, and the August 4th issue of Jinja Shinpō included a long round-table interview with the chairman and two vice-chairmen of the association: Revd Izumi, chief priest of Hyōgo-ken Himeji Gokoku Jinja (兵庫縣姫路護國神社), Revd Takenaka,… Read More »The Future of Gokoku Jinja

The July 28th issue of Jinja Shinpō had an article about prayers for peace in Shimanë Prefecture, on the Japan Sea coast of western Japan. These were organised by a group bringing together twenty Shinto jinja and Buddhist temples in the historic Izumo Province (出雲国), which forms the eastern part of the contemporary prefecture. About 150 people gathered at Izumo Ōyashiro (出雲大社) on 22nd June. The group was set up to bring people together across the lines of religion and denomination, to show the world the importance of a “wa”… Read More »Praying for Peace

Today, 15th August 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Japan. (In Japan, the war is held to have ended on the day when Shōwa Tennō made a broadcast speech announcing, with masterly understatement, that the war had “taken a turn not necessarily to Japan’s advantage”.) This is a major event for the Shinto establishment. There has been a series of articles in Jinja Shinpō, one a week for the last year, introducing individuals enshrined in each prefectural Gokoku Jinja (護國神社), the local jinja… Read More »Remembering the War