Ken@Japan

Continued from Emperor Jinmu (2) Finally , the Prince and his party came to Osaka bay and landed on the ground. However, a local deity called Nagasune-hiko (Nagasune) and his army had been waiting to crush the Prince and his party. There have been some academic arguments about the reason why Nagasune was hostile against the Prince Iware and one of them argues that that was because of a god called Nigiyahahi. Nigiyahahi was a god who had come down to the land of Japan before Ninigi-the grandson of Amaterasu and the ancestor of Prince Iware, came down to Kyushu. Nigihayahi would not have liked the Prince, a direct descendant of Amaterasu, to rule Japan. At that time,  Nagasune deeply worshiped the god [1] and the god supported Nagasune in return. To Nigihayahi as the first deity who came from the heaven to the land of Japan ,, the Prince Iware is a hindrance since the Prince is from the heavenly goddess's line [2] .  No matter what reason it was, Nagasune and his army ...

Located in a road in a countryside with a long history. This is the place where the first emperor of Japan was borne. The origin of Sano Jinja Shrine was established 2,500 years ago at the very place where the first emperor Jinmu was borne by the order of the fifth emperor Kousho（考昭天皇) to show respects to his ancestor. However, it has been moved back and forth whenever Mt. Kirishima, an active volcano located in the south in Kyushu island, exploded. Currently, the main body of Sano Jinja Shrine is a bit away from the birthplace and there is a small shrine called Ouji-baru Shrine（皇子原神社）in the place as an annex attached to the Sano Jinja Shrine. In the Jinmu's legend, he moved to Miyazaki, an hour away from the shrine by car, after he spent several years in Sano district. In Miyazaki, there is a big shrine called Miyazaki Jingu Shrine in the place where Jinmu spent his time until he became 45 years old. Because of this mythological relationship, Sano Jinja Shrin...

(Continued from Emperor Jinmu (1) ) Geographically, there are three routes from Miyazaki to Yamato (currently Nara prefecture); 1.to go to North Kyushu (Kitakyushu) and take a route in land like the current bullet train's route from Kyushu to Osaka, 2. to take a ship and go to Pacific Ocean in south and detour along the current Shikoku Island to Kii promontory [1] , 3. to take a ship in Seto-Naikai (Inland Sea; straits between San-in area and Shikoku Island. Kyushu itself is an island as one component of Japan's archipelago so there is small straits between the main land and Kyushu Island. Currently we have a bridge called Kan-mon Bridge (関門橋）and we can take the option 1 to go to Osaka but there was not the bridge about 2,700 years ago. Namely, this option was not realistic to the Prince and his party. Brinkley has a detail about boat techniques at that time. He argues that the boats were simply hollow trunks of trees [2] and they were propelled by oars, not sails [3] ...

The current imperial majesty of Japan is Emperor Akihito and he is said to be the 126th emperor in its imperial throne line. In Japan's constitution, the Emperor is a symbol of Japan; Nation, People and its unification. Recently, it has been somehow shown that The Emperor is a spiritual piller among Japanese as their reaction was vehement when the president of Korea, Lee Myung-bak, asked for the Emperor's apology against the imperial colonization, claiming that Akihito's father, the former 125th emperor Hirohito was responsible for damages to people and land of Korea during the Second World War before the Emperor's visit in Korea 1 2 .  As partially evidenced by this recent event, the Emperor of Japan is always set with the war-responsibility and/or its colonization in Asia during the war time. However, in Japanese native religion; Shintoism, the Emperor has seen as a descendent of god of Japan. In this article, I would like to focus on the very first emperor Jinmu...

As explained previously Izanagi Jingu Shrine ), Izanagi, a father god of Japan, purified himself in the ocean after coming back from the dead land where his wife lived after her death. Shinto priests cast a famous Shinto Prayer called “Harae-kotoba” (words for purification)  in front of gods’ alter in the dwelling as their daily duty and some festivals . Here is the content of the words. Words of purification （祓詞） 掛まくも畏き 伊邪那岐大神　 筑紫の日向の橘の小戸の阿波岐原に 禊祓へ給ひし時に成りませる祓戸大神等 諸諸の禍事罪穢有らむをば 祓へ給ひ清め給へと白す事を聞食せと 恐み恐も白す [Interpretation] Dear Purification gods, Although it’s too awesome to speak his name out of my mouth, you were borne when The Great God Izanagi purified himself in an ocean called Awagigahara, located in Odo district of Tachibana area in Hyuga of Chikushi. If there are various unfortunates/sins in me, please accept my plea and purify those. (Retrieved on 2012/10/2 from  http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~tsutaya/newpage14.htm ) Reading from the English interpret...

(Continued from my previous article " Takebe Taisha Shrine ".) When Yamato Takeru headed in the east, he dropped by Ise Grand Shrine (Refer to " Rice and religion " and "  Nichizen-Gu Shrine ") where his aunt, Yamato hime, lived as a special maiden. He was deeply sad since his father did not allow him to rest in his home by telling him to go in the east right after his great triumph in Kyushu. He told his aunt how depressed he was at his father's cruel treatment on him. Yamato Hime comforted and encouraged her nephew and gave him a sacred sword that had been enshrined in the grand shrine and she gave him a small pouch, too. The sword "Ameno Murakumo no Tsurugi" (A heavenly sword) was given to the supreme goddess Amaterasu by her youngest brother Susano-o after Susan-o defeated the evil eight-headed monster (Yamata-no-orochi). He killed the monster and found something in the monster's tail. He pulled it out from the tail and ...

Yamato Takeru (倭建命） was a prince of Japan whose name had been Ousu when he was a child. He was too wild to kill his own brother accidentally and his father, the 12th emperor Keikou （景行天皇 71-131 AD) was afraid of Ousu's strong wildness. Keikou then decided to utilize Ousu's wildness for ruling his nation and sent Ousu to Kyushu to defeat Kumaso clan who had been against the imperial court. Ousu pretended to be a female by dressing up like a girl and sneaked in a mansion of Kumaso's head; the Kumaso Brothers and won the battle. Kumaso Takeru, the head of Kumaso clan was impressed at Ousu's strength after he was defeated and gave Ousu a special name called Yamato Takeru; Yamato is an old name of Japan and Takeru means a strong man. Therefore, Yamato Takeru literally means "Japan's most strong man". He came back to the palace where his father Keikou lived with the triumph but Keikou told him to go in the east to defeat enemies immediately. He was depres...

Oumi is a part of Shiga, near from the Lake Biwa. The 38th emperor of Japan, Tenji, established his own capital city in this place. Emperor Tenji started many new things in attempts to reform politics and governance of the nation. Thanks to his achievements, he has been respected, especially by the former emperor; Emperor Hirohito. Upon Hirohito's approval, Oumi Jingu Shrine was eslablished in order to enshrine the respected ancestor of Hirohito; Tenji. Emperor Tenji had been called Prince Nakanoe and initiated a  coup d'état in 645 AD with supports from his company; Nakatomi no Kamatari to defeat a domineering noble cran called Soga family in the imperial court of the time. After he won the battle and exiled Soga cran, he backed up a new emperor and tried to reform the old style in politics by shifting the capital city to Osaka. However, as time went by, the emperor and the prince Nakanoe came to have collisions and he decided to move the capital ci...

Shintoism is a local Japanese religion to respect nature and Buddhism is an imported religion which has had the main foothold in Japanese religious view. Sometimes, there were some disputes over its dominance upon Japan's religion, but its fusion can be seen in some places in Japan. Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine is one of them. Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine （日吉大社) is located at Mt. Hiei's foot in Ohtsu, Shiga. Mt. Hiei, a UNESCO's world heritage, is one of the biggest Buddhist monasteries, founded by Saicho（最澄) , a high monk who started a Buddhist's group called Tendai-Shu after study and training of Buddhism in China.  East Headquarter Firstly, I would like to mention the shrine's origin briefly. The shrine is comprised of the two main shrines (West headquarter and East headquarter). Its origin is unclear but it has been confirmed that there was an animism ritual for worshiping the mountain in the place where the shrine exists. In the east headquarter of the shrine, ...

Slovenia is a EU-member nation located in the middle in Europe, neighboring to Croatia in the east and south, Austria in the north. The country used to be a part of the former Yugoslavia and got independence in 1991 AD. The common language is Slovenian but it's a multilingual nation: Italian is spoken in the east in the nation, German in the north and English is widely spoken thanks to their education. Lake Bred is one of the nation's eye-opening/relaxing views. It's located 55km away from the capital city Ljubljana and easily accessible by public transportation; bus, train. You can feel that time goes very slowly at sight of the beautiful view: A lake with a small island surrounded by deep/green forest. There is a church with a tall tower called St. Maria Church ( Cerkev Marijinega vnebovzetja ) and it has attracted many photo-seekers like me. If you search Lake Bread on internet, you will find a lot of pictures of this "lake and church isla...

Building, the front view History of human beings is a history of war. Ever since human beings were civilized, they have had wars in their history and the war actually killed many people, who were involved in wars directly, and who were victimized by its damage. Those who remained alive must have unanimously thought to give comfort to spirits of the deceased. Shine of remembrance in Melbourne is one of those thoughts. Melbourne, the Economist's high-ranked city as the livable city in the world, is located in the south-east in Australia. The city now belongs to the state of Victoria and the state's capital city. Shrine of remembrance is located in the south from Melbourne's central part (called "city") and near from Royal Botanic Garden. According to the shrine's website, the shrine was built for people in Victoria who died in Wolrd War I, and became a memorial to Australian victims. Especially, it was difficult to bring back bodies of soldiers who ...

The sun rises in the east and sets down in the west. That's a scientific sense commonly held among people. Putting it in Japanese religious way, the sun goddess appears in the east and disappears in the west .To celebrate this divinity, there are two "sun"shrines in the east and in the west in Kansai Area. Nichizen-Gu Shrine（日前宮）is located in Wakayama as a part of the three shrine visits (refer to "Itakiso Jinja Shrine" ,  "Kamayama Jinja Shrine" ) and the "west" shrine for the sun deity. I explained before ( "Rice and Religion"  ), our supreme goddess Amaterasu represents the sun and its main alter is in the main building at Ise Grand Shrine (Jingu of Ise, 伊勢神宮）. From Nara and/or Kyoto, where the imperial majesties in history were based as the nation's capital city, the Grand Shrine is located in the east to represent the sun's entrance. Meanwhile, Nichizen-Gu Shrine is located in the south-east and it's said to ...

The first emperor of Japan "Jinmu" was born in Takachiho, Kyushu. He went on a journey to look for the better place to rule Japan. He had many fights against local deities who showed him disobedience. He won the battles on his journey with his own strength and supports from his brother. Jinmu accompanied his elder brother "Itsuse" but Itsuse died of an enemy's attack while on their journey. Jinmu mourned his brother's death and he decided to make a grave for his brother. The place Jinmu buried his brother's body is now a shrine and Itsuse is the enshrined god. Kamayama Jinja shrine （竈山神社）is located in Wakayama as one of the three shrine visit (Refer to "  Itakiso Jinja Shrine " ) and its location is in between Nichizen-Gu shrine and Itakiso Jinja shrine. When you go through the main gate, you will see a spacious graveled garden with a widely large main bundling (alter). Behind the main building, there is a core building where the god is said...

70% of Japan's land is forests and this fact allows Japan to be the second biggest nation in the world in the area-square of forestland (the first nation is Norway for your reference).  . In fact, there are some forests registered as UNESCO's world heritage such as Shiragami Mountains, Yakushima-Island and Kumano-Kodo. Being the country with rich forestland,    Japan's myth clarifies how come Japan has become such a forest nationThe key is the deity in Itakiso Jinja Shrine （伊太祁曽神社）. Itakiso Jinja Shrine is located in Wakayama and the god called Itakeru is enshrined in the main building together with the god's sisters, Oo-kayatsu-hime and tsumatsu-hime. Itakeru came down from the heaven to the world where humans live with his father Susano-o (one of the three great deities who Izanagi, the Japan's father god, created; see Izanagi Jingu Shrine   ). Susano-o actually brought seeds of various plants and he asked Itakeru to sow the seeds ...

As I described in the previous posting ( Onokoro Jinja Shrine ）, Izanagi (the father god) and Izanami (the mother god) created the land of Japan. After that, they gave a birth to various gods and goddess such as water-deities, wind-deities, stone-deities to protect the land they created. However, unfortunately Izanami got burnt when she gave a birth to a fire-god and passed away with the injury. Izanagi mourned his wife's death and decided to go to the land of dead people and bring her back. Inside the dead land, he could hear Izanami's voice asking him to wait until she convinces the god of dead land to let her back to the normal land where she used to live with her husband. She also asked Izanagi to never look back in search of her existence and Izanagi agreed. However, he finally broke the promise since he was kept waiting for a long, long time. He lit the torch and looked back to see her and what he found there was the rotten body of his wife. Izanagi got scared and...