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sacred forests

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

More on Tree Transport

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the delivery of the sacred timber to Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮). However, the July 21st issue of Jinja Shinpō (神社新報) devoted its entire back page to more details of what happened along the way, so I am going to write about it again. There were a lot of matsuri involved. The earlier article covered what happened in Nagano, the starting point for one set of timber. That truck then made its way through Aichi Prefecture, where there were fourteen events and ceremonies along the… Read More »More on Tree Transport

Matsuri for Nature

The July 14th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an extremely interesting article by a consultant for Jinja Honchō called… Oh! Will you look at that? David Chart! Is my faux naïf act fooling anyone? I had another article published in Jinja Shinpō. It suggests that jinja could perform matsuri to celebrate features of nature in their local area. That could be an old tree, or the cherry blossoms, or fireflies, or birds, or the first snow of the year — anything. I suggested that the matsuri could be held outside,… Read More »Matsuri for Nature

Delivering the Sacred Trees

After the trees that will be used to make the Mihishiro (御樋代) have been felled, they need to be transported to Isë, a couple of hundred kilometres from both the forests where the trees are harvested. Historically, they were floated down the river, and then pulled on carts. These days, most of the journey is done by truck, but there are still a number of ceremonial and celebratory elements, which were reported in the June 23rd issue of Jinja Shinpō. The only departure ceremony described was for the trees felled… Read More »Delivering the Sacred Trees