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Remembering the War

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

Silk for Sacred Treasures

In the Shikinen Sengū (式年遷宮) at Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮), the rebuilding of the sanctuary buildings gets almost all of the attention. There are a couple of reasons for this, I think. One is that the sanctuary buildings are the only part that visitors can see — although even their visibility is limited. The other is that almost all of the traditional rituals that happen before the transfer itself are connected to rebuilding the sanctuaries, including the ones I have already described on this blog. This indicates that it was always… Read More »Silk for Sacred Treasures

More on Tree Transport

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the delivery of the sacred timber to Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮). However, the July 21st issue of Jinja Shinpō (神社新報) devoted its entire back page to more details of what happened along the way, so I am going to write about it again. There were a lot of matsuri involved. The earlier article covered what happened in Nagano, the starting point for one set of timber. That truck then made its way through Aichi Prefecture, where there were fourteen events and ceremonies along the… Read More »More on Tree Transport

Reasons for Optimism

A few weeks ago, a reader left a comment noting that I was optimistic about the future of Shinto. This is true, and there are reasons for that, despite all the problems at Jinja Honchō, the shortage of priests, and the declining population of Japan. I should be clear that I do not think that every jinja in Japan will survive into the future. Indeed, I know they will not. Some have already been merged, and there was an article in Jinja Shinpō a few years ago about a group… Read More »Reasons for Optimism

Goddess Tour

OK, so “goddess” is a bad translation, but “female kami tour” doesn’t have the same ring. The July 14th issue of Jinja Shinpō had a short article about three jinja on Awaji Island and a neighbouring small island (in Hyōgo Prefecture, between Honshū, the main island of Japan, and Shikoku). These jinja all enshrine female kami, have female priests, and are quite close together, so they decided to team up. They created a set of three special goshuin (御朱印), along with a webpage, to encourage people to visit all three… Read More »Goddess Tour

Digital Publicity

The July 7th issue of Jinja Shinpō had two articles about digital publicity for jinja, both connected to Jinja Honchō. One was quite simple, about a jinja creating a website. These days there is nothing particularly remarkable about a jinja having a website, and most do not get articles about it in Jinja Shinpō. One reason for the article is that one of the newspaper’s correspondents wrote about it. (The importance of that sort of practical reason should not be underestimated.) The other reason is that this jinja, Hiyoshisha (日吉社)… Read More »Digital Publicity