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Misomayama

The preparations for the 63rd Shikinen Sengū at Isë Jingū continue. According to the 3rd February issue of Jinja Shinpō, the Tennō designated the “misomayama” on January 15th. The misomayama are the forests from which the timber necessary for the rebuilding will be harvested. For the last few centuries, they have been in the Kiso region, a mountainous part of central Japan in Nagano and Gifu Prefectures. That tradition was followed this year, with Kisotani National Forest and Urakiso National Forest being designated. Because these are national forests, Jingū will… Read More »Misomayama

Architectural Changes

One of my patrons recently asked me whether there had been changes in jinja architecture over time, particularly after disasters, and whether there had been controversies of the sort there were in Europe. (If I mention “Viollet-le-Duc”, anyone with knowledge of medieval French architecture will shudder in horror.) As with everything in Shinto, the answer is complex, and depends on the jinja. The first point to bear in mind is that traditional jinja architecture is wooden, and while wooden buildings can last for over a millennium (the oldest one in… Read More »Architectural Changes

Shishimai

The 20th January issue of Jinja Shinpō included two articles about Shishimai, concerning closely connected events. “Shishimai” seems to be generally translated as “lion dance”. “Mai” is certainly “dance”, and they are indeed dances, but “shishi” do not generally look that much like lions. The Japanese name is for a large group of dances, with examples found all over Japan. They can be very different from one another, but in the basic form the “shishi” is danced by one or two people under a sheet, holding and operating a lacquered… Read More »Shishimai

Hatsumōdë 2025

The 20th January issue of Jinja Shinpō had a front-page article about this year’s hatsumōdë. The editorial on the second page said that this year was relatively calm and trouble-free. Given that last year had a natural disaster and a plane crash, and the previous three years were in the throes of a global pandemic, “relatively trouble-free” is not a high bar. Even taking a longer view, it does seem to have been a good year, with pleasant weather over most of the country. This article is based on interviews… Read More »Hatsumōdë 2025

Becoming Chief Priest

I have been reporting on all of Revd Tagawa’s columns about her career as a priest, but she is not the only female priest writing in the Komorebi (“Sunlight Through Leaves”) column of Jinja Shinpō. The other is Revd Nonaka, and in the January 13th issue she wrote about when she became a chief priest. It is… a bit different. She starts by saying that, in the year we changed from Heisei to Reiwa (2019), she became the chief priest of the jinja where she was serving, because she couldn’t… Read More »Becoming Chief Priest

Jingū Shikinen Zōeichō

As I have mentioned before, preparations for the next Shikinen Sengū at Isë Jingū, which is expected to be held in 2033, have begun. Last year was concerned with preliminaries, but if things follow the normal schedule the first two matsuri, the Yamaguchisai and Konomotosai, will be performed in May this year. The Shikinen Sengū is an enormous job, involving not only the rebuilding of the main sanctuaries, but also the crafting, following the traditional specifications, of hundreds of sacred treasures. Managing this process is also an enormous job, and… Read More »Jingū Shikinen Zōeichō