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Shinto

Awareness of Jingū

Earlier this year, Jinja Honchō commissioned a survey of people’s awareness of, and attitudes towards, Jingū. This is the third such survey, and they have been held at ten-year intervals. This means that the last one was held the year after the most recent Shikinen Sengū, while this one and the first one were held roughly midway in the cycle. The basic results, the proportions of each answer to each question, were published in Gekkan Wakagi on September 1st. (Gekkan Wakagi is the monthly newsletter that Jinja Honchō sends to… Read More »Awareness of Jingū

“True Japanese”

The August 19th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article reporting on the annual meeting of the association of priests with educational connections. In most cases, that means priests who are also school teachers. The theme of this meeting was “Raising True Japanese Rooted in the Shinto Spirit”. I am very uncomfortable with that sort of slogan, but it is quite common in the Shinto world. In this post, I’m going to explain why I don’t like it. First, a couple of things that aren’t the reason. It isn’t that… Read More »“True Japanese”

Jingū Shikinen Sengū Preparation Committee

The August 19th issue of Jinja Shinpō led with an article about the first meeting of the Jingū Shikinen Sengū Preparation Committee. The committee is an advisory body for the Senior Chief Priest of Jingū, with the remit to investigate and discuss important issues. It is chaired by the Chairman of Jinja Honchō, Revd Takatsukasa, who is himself a former Senior Chief Priest of Jingū. Revd Tanaka, the President of Jinja Honchō, is also on the committee. The meeting was held on July 31st, in Tokyo, and other members of… Read More »Jingū Shikinen Sengū Preparation Committee

Translation

This post is a bit less about Shinto and a bit more about what I do for Jinja Honchō and more generally for the Shinto community. As readers probably know, most of what I do is the preparation of English material to introduce Shinto to a foreign audience. (I occasionally work as an interpreter for people at Jinja Honchō, but that is minor in terms of time spent — although it pays well.) Since the beginning, I have been emphasising that simply translating the Japanese material for a Japanese audience… Read More »Translation

New Chief Priest at Yasukuni

 The August 5th issue of Jinja Shinpō carried a long interview with the new chief priest of Yasukuni Jinja, Ōtsuka Umio. He is an unusual choice because he was not a priest when appointed, nor is he the scion of one of the eminent families of Japanese history, like the Fujiwara, Tokugawa, or Imperial line. Rather, he is a retired admiral, and previous head of the officer school of the Maritime Self Defense Forces. (Not the navy. We don’t have a navy. Or any other armed forces.) The fact that… Read More »New Chief Priest at Yasukuni

Retirement Age

As I said in the last article, there were two topics discussed at the Jinja Honchō board meeting held on July 19th and reported in the August 5th issue of Jinja Shinpō that are worth picking up here. The first was the ongoing friction; the second was the question of a retirement age. The proposal is not reported in detail, but it seems to involve the introduction of a retirement age for senior roles in the Jinja Honchō secretariat. The aim is given as allowing the promotion of younger staff… Read More »Retirement Age