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sacred forests

Caring for Sacred Forests

The August 3rd issue of Jinja Shinpō included a double-page spread of articles about sacred forests. One article was about the sacred forests at Jingū, but since I wrote about them two weeks ago, I will skip over that one here. The other articles were about caring for sacred forests. One was by an expert on urban trees, talking about the issues specific to them. As he points out, trees die. They live a lot longer than people, but they do die, and then fall over. Before they reach that… Read More »Caring for Sacred Forests

Forests at Jingū

The new set of authors for the Komorebi column in Jinja Shinpō are publishing their first instalments, and the July 27th issue included the first column by Yamamoto Yoshiya, who works in the forestry department at Isë Jingū. He promises to write about the forests, and so I anticipate reporting on his columns quite often. His first column is introductory. The forests around Jingū are divided into two parts — the Shin’iki (神域), “area of the kami”, and Kyūikirin (宮域林), “sanctuary area woodland”. The Shin’iki is the area immediately around… Read More »Forests at Jingū

Karimihishirogibassaishiki

The Karimihishirogibassaishiki (仮御樋代木伐採式) is another ceremony leading up to the Shikinen Sengū (式年遷宮) at Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮), and was held on May 17th in the mountain forests in in Kiso, Nagano Prefecture that are supplying much of the timber for the rebuilding process. It was reported in the 25th May issue of Jinja Shinpō. In Japanese, parts of the name are self-explanatory. “Shiki” is “ceremony”, while “bassai” means “felling (a tree)”, and “gi” is “tree”. “Kari” means “temporary” or “substitute” or “provisional” — it is the character used in the… Read More »Karimihishirogibassaishiki

Kozukuri Hajimesai

The next of the important ceremonies in the Shikinen Sengū (式年遷宮) at Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮) took place on April 21st, and was reported in the May 4th issue of Jinja Shinpō. This was the Kozukuri Hajimesai (木造始祭), or “matsuri for the beginning of making the wood”. This is one of the ceremonies for which the date and time are decided by the Tennō, meaning that it is one of the most central. (There are records from a couple of centuries ago of discussions back and forth over the best day… Read More »Kozukuri Hajimesai

Okihiki Zomëshiki

The 63rd Shikinen Sengū (式年遷宮) at Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮) continues, with another important event in mid April. This was reported on the front and back pages of the April 27th issue of Jinja Shinpō and addressed in the editorial. As you might guess from the title of this post, this event is called the “Okihiki Zomëshiki” (御木曳初式). Literally translated, this means something like “ceremony for the beginning of pulling the exalted trees”. You may remember that there have already been two ceremonies involving the pulling of trees, for the Mihishiro… Read More »Okihiki Zomëshiki

Mountain Kami

A couple of weeks ago I went to Kyūshū with my wife, and we visited some jinja. I want to write about two of them here, one in this post and the other in the next. The first one is at Kirishima Jingū (霧島神宮), a jinja that venerates Ninigi-no-mikoto, the grandson of Amaterasu Ōmikami who founded the Imperial line, at the mountain where he is said to have descended from the heavens. The jinja is ancient, and the main sanctuary buildings (which date from the eighteenth century) were designated National… Read More »Mountain Kami