Mimusubi

One of the problems with continuing to research a topic that you have written about in the past is that sometimes you discover that you had misinterpreted something. For example, when I wrote about Miho Jinja, I noted that the jinja claims that Jinmu Tennō’s empress was a daughter of Kotoshironushi, the main kami at Miho Jinja. I also noted that the Kojiki says that she was a daughter of Ōmononushi, the main kami at Miwa Jinja, and I speculated on where Miho Jinja’s legend might have come from. However,… Read More »The Perils of Research

A few months ago I wrote about a series of columns in Jinja Shinpō being written by a female priest who did not grow up in a priestly family. The latest instalment was in the January 25th issue, and was about her service in the jinja of the Imperial Palace, the Three Sacred Halls. The priests for these jinja are divided into the male Shōten and the female Naishōten. The Naishōten are required to be unmarried, and today I believe that means that they are all fairly young, although in… Read More »The Tennō’s Priestesses

I visit my local jinja, Shirahata Hachiman Daijin, every day to pay my respects to the kami. Because of my work schedule, this normally happens in the morning. However, my favourite time to visit is in the evening, when it is just starting to get dark, but before the doors to the haiden (the prayer hall) are closed. The lights in the haiden are on, and it is dark enough outside that they give the room a warm glow. Normally, there are lights on behind the bamboo blinds at the… Read More »My Favourite Sanpai Time

Jinja Honchō runs an annual conference for priests, at which academics give presentations on topics relevant to the religious content of Shinto. Normally, the priests gather for this, but that was not possible last year. Instead, two presentations were recorded, and made available on the priests-only website. I haven’t seen them, because I’m not a priest, but quite a lot of priests apparently did. They may even have been accessible to more priests than usual, as there was no need to travel to a central site, but there was no… Read More »Epidemics and Matsuri

I have just made two more of the Patreon essays available for purchase on Amazon. These essays, Myths of Jinmu Tennō, cover most of the myths about Jinmu Tennō, the first Tennō, from when he left Hyūga in southeastern Kyushu to the completion of his conquest of Yamato in central Japan. There are a few more myths about the establishment of his rule, and I will write another essay about those in the near future. The scholarly consensus is that Jinmu Tennō did not exist, and that there was no… Read More »Myths of Jinmu Tennō

The 25th January issue of Jinja Shinpō carried an article about the enshrinement of kami in a new jinja. This jinja is called “Transport Jinja” (交通神社), and it is on the roof of a shopping mall attached to JR Miyazaki Station, in southeastern Kyushu. It is sponsored by three transport companies and the company that built the mall, which is closely linked to JR Kyushu (one of the three transport companies). The companies spoke to the priests at Miyazaki Jingū about the project, and the jinja agreed to enshrine a… Read More »“Transport Jinja”