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David Chart

Digital Administration

The January 26th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article that was entirely about practical issues involved in running a prefectural Jinjachō. It was written by one of the staff at Okayama Jinjachō, and if I am remembering correctly it was the latest in a series reporting on their move to a fully digital system. This article reported on the successful shift to completely digital communication between the Jinjachō and the local groups within it. It seems that quite a lot of administration happens this way: individual jinja communicate with… Read More »Digital Administration

Shinto and Buddhism

There is a long history of extremely close links between Shinto and Buddhist practice, but most of these links were severed by the government in 1868. Recently, however, some priests and monks have started to restore them. Despite the emphasis that Shinto places on tradition, this is not a simple revival of the way things were in the past. The January 26th issue of Jinja Shinpō had a couple of articles about examples. One was at Enoshima Jinja (江島神社), in Kanagawa Prefecture, and marked the seventh centenary of a local… Read More »Shinto and Buddhism

New Book

I have published Myths from Fudoki Fragments 1 on Amazon, collecting three of my essays from 2023. Yes, I have got a bit behind. There’s only one of me… To quote the blurb on Amazon (which I wrote, so I am allowed): The Fudoki are gazetteers of regions of Japan, compiled in the eighth century. They include many myths, some of which give different versions of stories recorded in the central histories, and some of which seem to be completely different. Many of the Fudoki only survive in fragmentary quotations… Read More »New Book

Hamaori

Issue 277 of Shintō Shūkyō reported on the annual meeting of the academic society that publishes the journal, and contained several interesting articles. The first I want to write about is “Mikoshi Parades in the Bōsō Peninsula”, by Kobayashi Hiromi. The Bōsō peninsula is part of Chiba Prefecture, which is immediately to the east of Tokyo and part of the Kantō metropolis. While that metropolis is no longer officially the largest city in the world (the UN changed its definitions), it is still number 3, but the Bōsō peninsula stretches… Read More »Hamaori

Hatsumōdë 2026

Jinja Shinpō published its first article about this year’s hatsumōdë in the January 19th issue. As always, it started with Isë Jingū, which had 426,544 visitors over the first three days of the new year, up 10,433 from last year. As of December last year, Isë City had a population of 117,368, which means that the overwhelming majority of these visitors travelled some distance to be there. Jingū also reported an increase in the number of people receiving ofuda. Meiji Jingū in Tokyo reported an increase in both visitors and… Read More »Hatsumōdë 2026

The Diversity of Priests

At the beginning of every year, Jinja Shinpō publishes a lot of short articles by people connected with the Shinto community who were born in the same year of the Chinese zodiac as the current year. A few are invited, particularly 96-year-olds who are up to writing something, but I think most are submitted. Almost all the writers are priests, but not all — they published the one I wrote in the last year of the boreboar. This year is the year of the horse. Because the authors can write… Read More »The Diversity of Priests