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Jinja Honchō politics

The Future of Shinto

The May 11th issue of Jinja Shinpō includes a two-page spread reporting on a discussion between the chairman of Jinja Honchō, Revd Takatsukasa, and its president, Revd Tanaka. Long-term readers of this blog may remember that there have been tensions between these two, but they seem to have kept it civilised. The occasion for the discussion and article was the 80th anniversary of Jinja Honchō, and since they are both just over 80 a great deal of it was reminiscences. Revd Takatsukasa grew up where the main offices of Jinja… Read More »The Future of Shinto

Issues at the Oversight Council

The Oversight Council (評議員会) of Jinja Honchō (神社本庁) meets twice a year, in May and October, and this year the October meeting was on the 24th, and reported in the November 3rd issue of Jinja Shinpō (神社新報). In recent years, meetings of this council have been dominated by a series of related scandals (the court case and the disputed presidency), but all of those issues have now been resolved, and this has made a difference. The disputed presidency is still an ongoing issue, because Jinja Honchō is looking into whether… Read More »Issues at the Oversight Council

Gender Balance

As of today, the entire staff of the Public Relations and International Section of Jinja Honchō’s Edification Center is female. Admittedly, there are only three of them, but I do think this is significant. While the section has been entirely male many times in the past, this is the first time it has been entirely female. This is because the section includes a section head, and this is the first time a woman has been appointed to this role. I think it is only the second time a woman has… Read More »Gender Balance

Presidential Election Part 3

Carrying on from Tuesday, this is the end of the report of the May meeting of Jinja Honchō’s (神社本庁) Oversight Council (評議員会), based on the articles in the June 2nd issue of Jinja Shinpō. After the motion to withdraw the report on the disputed presidency was very narrowly defeated, the report itself was presented. This basically set out the Tanaka (田中) faction’s view of the dispute, and the secretariat once again stated that they were considering civil and criminal actions against those who were involved. The report looked into the… Read More »Presidential Election Part 3

Presidential Election Part 2

This post continues the account of this year’s May meeting of the Jinja Honchō (神社本庁) Oversight Council (評議員会), as reported in the June 2nd issue of Jinja Shinpō. The first part was posted on Friday, and covers the first day. The morning of the second day was occupied by two subcommittees. One was looking at the budget in detail, while the other was considering motions submitted by groups of councillors. These two committees were straightforward. The budget committee listened to presentations, asked a few questions, and made some suggestions, but… Read More »Presidential Election Part 2

Presidential Election Part 1

It’s time to write about the presidential election. Not the one in South Korea — if you are reading this blog, you want to know about the one at Jinja Honchō (神社本庁). I will actually be writing about the whole “Green Leaves Meeting” (青葉会議) which is the big meeting of the Oversight Council (評議員会) and associated committees that Jinja Honchō has every May. This year’s meeting was extended by a day, because they anticipated it taking a while. And it did. So much so that I think I will need… Read More »Presidential Election Part 1