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Fire Prevention

I have occasionally threatened to write a book entitled And Then It Burnt Down: An Architectural History of Japan, because fires are such a recurrent part of Japanese architectural history. Indeed, in the Edo period the saying was that the Edo (modern Tokyo) had two sorts of flowers: fights and fires. (The original Japanese doesn’t alliterate as nicely as the English translation.) Concerns with fire prevention are still very strong in Japan, and the front page of the February 2nd issue of Jinja Shinpō was all about one of these… Read More »Fire Prevention

Digital Administration

The January 26th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article that was entirely about practical issues involved in running a prefectural Jinjachō. It was written by one of the staff at Okayama Jinjachō, and if I am remembering correctly it was the latest in a series reporting on their move to a fully digital system. This article reported on the successful shift to completely digital communication between the Jinjachō and the local groups within it. It seems that quite a lot of administration happens this way: individual jinja communicate with… Read More »Digital Administration

Shinto and Buddhism

There is a long history of extremely close links between Shinto and Buddhist practice, but most of these links were severed by the government in 1868. Recently, however, some priests and monks have started to restore them. Despite the emphasis that Shinto places on tradition, this is not a simple revival of the way things were in the past. The January 26th issue of Jinja Shinpō had a couple of articles about examples. One was at Enoshima Jinja (江島神社), in Kanagawa Prefecture, and marked the seventh centenary of a local… Read More »Shinto and Buddhism

New Book

I have published Myths from Fudoki Fragments 1 on Amazon, collecting three of my essays from 2023. Yes, I have got a bit behind. There’s only one of me… To quote the blurb on Amazon (which I wrote, so I am allowed): The Fudoki are gazetteers of regions of Japan, compiled in the eighth century. They include many myths, some of which give different versions of stories recorded in the central histories, and some of which seem to be completely different. Many of the Fudoki only survive in fragmentary quotations… Read More »New Book

Hamaori

Issue 277 of Shintō Shūkyō reported on the annual meeting of the academic society that publishes the journal, and contained several interesting articles. The first I want to write about is “Mikoshi Parades in the Bōsō Peninsula”, by Kobayashi Hiromi. The Bōsō peninsula is part of Chiba Prefecture, which is immediately to the east of Tokyo and part of the Kantō metropolis. While that metropolis is no longer officially the largest city in the world (the UN changed its definitions), it is still number 3, but the Bōsō peninsula stretches… Read More »Hamaori

Hatsumōdë 2026

Jinja Shinpō published its first article about this year’s hatsumōdë in the January 19th issue. As always, it started with Isë Jingū, which had 426,544 visitors over the first three days of the new year, up 10,433 from last year. As of December last year, Isë City had a population of 117,368, which means that the overwhelming majority of these visitors travelled some distance to be there. Jingū also reported an increase in the number of people receiving ofuda. Meiji Jingū in Tokyo reported an increase in both visitors and… Read More »Hatsumōdë 2026