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David Chart

Matsuri, Ancient and Modern

The 24th November issue of Jinja Shinpō included two articles about “new” matsuri. One was based at Yoshida Jinja (吉田神社) in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. The autumn reisai (例祭), Grand Matsuri, is already registered by Mito City as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property, and involves one mikoshi (神輿) and seven dashi (山車) floats processing around the city. However, a couple of centuries ago, back in the Edo period, it also involved taking the kami down the river to the sea. According to the article, this stopped because of an “argument” (quotation… Read More »Matsuri, Ancient and Modern

Imperial Offering

The main news on the front page of the November 17th issue of Jinja Shinpō was that the Tennō (天皇) and Empress have made a personal donation to the Shikinen Sengū (式年遷宮) at Isë Jingū (伊勢の神宮). Now, it is true that just about anything Shinto-related that the Tennō does makes the front page of Jinja Shinpō, but this also got an editorial, because it is extremely significant, and not just because it involves both the Tennō and the Shikinen Sengū. There are two aspects to Jingū, as seen by the… Read More »Imperial Offering

Dance for the Kami

The 10th November issue of Jinja Shinpō included two articles that talked about dance offered to the kami, as well as a couple more that mentioned it. Between them, they raise interesting questions of definition. The first was about a set of matsuri praying for recovery that were held in Toyama Prefecture. This area was badly affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake last year, because it is right next to the peninsula. During two of the matsuri, immediately after the norito, Hikari-no-Mai (光舞)  was offered by priests. At one of… Read More »Dance for the Kami

Cat Shrine

Nekogamisha (猫神社), “Cat Shrine” on the signs, is a jinja within the grounds of Sengan’en (仙巌園) in Kagoshima City. This site was the site of one of the residences of the Shimazu lords of this area, and this jinja is connected to one of those lords. According to the explanatory signs in the precincts, the seventeenth Shimazu lord, Shimazu Yoshihiro (1535–1619) took seven cats with him into battle, and distributed them among his troops. This was so that the officers could tell the time by looking at the way the… Read More »Cat Shrine

Mountain Kami

A couple of weeks ago I went to Kyūshū with my wife, and we visited some jinja. I want to write about two of them here, one in this post and the other in the next. The first one is at Kirishima Jingū (霧島神宮), a jinja that venerates Ninigi-no-mikoto, the grandson of Amaterasu Ōmikami who founded the Imperial line, at the mountain where he is said to have descended from the heavens. The jinja is ancient, and the main sanctuary buildings (which date from the eighteenth century) were designated National… Read More »Mountain Kami

Issues at the Oversight Council

The Oversight Council (評議員会) of Jinja Honchō (神社本庁) meets twice a year, in May and October, and this year the October meeting was on the 24th, and reported in the November 3rd issue of Jinja Shinpō (神社新報). In recent years, meetings of this council have been dominated by a series of related scandals (the court case and the disputed presidency), but all of those issues have now been resolved, and this has made a difference. The disputed presidency is still an ongoing issue, because Jinja Honchō is looking into whether… Read More »Issues at the Oversight Council