Shikariwakë Jinja

After talking about the matsuri, I want to write about the buildings at Shikariwakë Jinja. I don’t often talk about jinja architecture, but this time I talked to the architect, so I will make an exception. The architect in question works at a company that is physically located inside Jinja Honchō, although I believe it is legally separate. Obviously, the connection is very close, and the firm unsurprisingly specialises in jinja. They worked on the rebuilding of Shikariwakë Jinja, and the architect was there because the dedication ceremony for the… Read More »Jinja Structures

The procession itself covered quite a lot of ground. The recruitment email said that we would be walking ten kilometres, but judging from what my phone recorded, I think it was nearer 15, and maybe even a bit more than that. There were no really steep hills on the route, but there were a number of definite slopes, and we all really felt them. “The next bit is hell,” is how I was warned at one point. (It wasn’t that bad.) Because the procession included several horses, there were occasional… Read More »Mikoshi Procession

The mikoshi procession started at 1pm, but the matsuri to transfer the kami to the mikoshi started at noon, and so we were asked to gather at 11am. That is doable from Tokyo, and you do not even need to get the first Shinkansen of the day. The second will do… So it was an early start for me. I arrived at the jinja just as the chief priest was arriving, and he leaned out of his car window to call to me. “Are you Mr Chart?” I guess I… Read More »Kami are Heavy!

At the weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in a matsuri at Shikariwakë Jinja (website in Japanese only) in Shiwa, Iwatë Prefecture. The jinja is also known as Akaishi (“Red Rock”) Jinja, because it is red, and has a rock in it. This is the red rock. The information board behind it is, unfortunately, forty years old, and virtually illegible. After the mikoshi procession, I saw children throwing stones and trying to land them on top of the rock. This sort of thing is common, and the idea is… Read More »Shikariwakë Jinja