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Fish in the Lake

The May 24th issue of Jinja Shinpō contained a very thought-provoking article. Futarasan Jinja in Nikkō has just erected a monument near its middle jinja to celebrate the actions of one of its late nineteenth century chief priests. Nikkō is a mountainous area in Tochigi Prefecture, most famous for Nikkō Tōshōgū, a World Heritage site and the main jinja enshrining Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Futarasan Jinja is, however, about a thousand years older, and also part of the World Heritage Site. It honours one of the… Read More »Fish in the Lake

Standing Committee Meeting

The June 7th issue of Jinja Shinpō included a front-page article about the meeting of the Standing Committee of Jinja Honchō’s Oversight Council. I mentioned that it might be a bit livelier than normal. Was it? It began with a call to debate a motion of no confidence in the President. Yes, it was a bit livelier than normal. The article only gets around to that opening gambit at the end, because apparently that member of the committee was told that he had to wait until later in the process… Read More »Standing Committee Meeting

Kasuga Taisha

Kasuga Taisha is in Nara, the site of Heijōkyō, the eighth-century capital of Japan. The jinja was founded in the early eighth century, soon after the foundation of the capital, to enshrine the patron kami of the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara had become politically important about fifty years earlier, and were to remain of great importance for another four centuries. The jinja enshrines four kami, and each has their own small main sanctuary. Like Jingū, Kasuga Taisha had a tradition of rebuilding the sanctuaries every twenty years, and unlike Jingū… Read More »Kasuga Taisha

New Essay

May’s Patreon essay was about the myths of Sujin Tennō, and it is now available on Gumroad. It is also available on Amazon as part of Myths of the First Emperors, where it is combined with March’s essay about the myths of the accession of Jinmu Tennō, which is also on Gumroad. These myths (of Jinmu and Sujin) are not, I think, very well known outside Japan, but they are very interesting for the history of Shinto. First, there are a number of descriptions of Shinto rituals, which appear to… Read More »New Essay

Preparing for the Oversight Council

The ongoing pandemic seriously disrupted the May meeting of Jinja Honchō’s Oversight Council. With states of emergency in effect across much of Japan, including Tokyo, the leadership of Jinja Honchō took the decision to not gather the full Oversight Council, but rather just have a meeting of the Standing Committee. This is permitted by the rules; the Council can vote to allow the Standing Committee to perform some of its functions in exceptional circumstances, and a pandemic certainly counts. The proposal was sent to all members of the Oversight Council… Read More »Preparing for the Oversight Council

The Origins of Saisen

“Saisen” is the money that you offer on a normal jinja visit, dropping it into the offering box before you pay your respects. There is a common custom of offering five yen (about 5c US), because the Japanese for “five yen” sounds like the Japanese for “good connection”, but jinja sometimes say they would like you to offer at least ¥100 (about $1). In any case, the amounts are much smaller than those associated with a formal prayer, which start at about ¥5,000, and are called “hatushoryō” or “tamagushiryō”. There… Read More »The Origins of Saisen