Ken@Japan

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...

Izanagi and Izanami Retrieved on 2012/7/14 from Wikipedia When talking about how Japan was created, you can read Kuniumi Shinwa (A myth about creation of a country) which appears in Kojiki（古事記）, the first series of in-writing history books in Japan edited 1,300 years ago. The story is about  the very first moment of creation of Japan as follows; Once upon a time, great divinities assigned its subordinates Izanagi and Izanami to create the land of Japan. Upon this assignment, Izanagi (Father-god)and Izanami　(Mother-goddess)  plunged a heavenly pike bestowed by the great devinities into a chaotic ocean and scrambled it . When they pulled up the pike from the ocean, water-drops dropped from the pike's edge into the ocean. Those drops congealed them selves and became the first island of Japan  (Onokoro - Island) was created.The two deities settled in the island and got married, then they created other eight islands of Japan and numerous numbers of Japanese deities fro...

Life is a journey. You keep walking to your destination until the very end, but sometimes you get lost in the road, can't decide where to go at the intersection. The god in Tsubaki Ookami Yashiro Shrine will help you find the way. Tsubaki Ookami Yashiro Shrine （椿大神社）is located in Suzuka, Mie, and the headquarter shrine for Sarutahiko God. Sarutahiko guided the grand son of the supreme god Ninigi to the designated point (legendarily in Miyazaki in Kyushu Island) when Ninigi came down from the heaven to earth. You can refer back to my previous postings for its brief knowledge ( Rice and religion ). Thanks to this myth story, Sarutahiko is popular to guide your way when you get lost, in particular, mentally. In other words, Sarutahiko worshipers want a spiritual guard/guide when they feel lost in their life; what to decide. Sarutahiko's wife, Ameno Uzume is also enshrined in a different alter in the same shrine. Ameno Uzume is a performance goddess based on the myth o...

A water fall, river, pure water. You feel relaxed by the water running through the shrine, but the serenity lies in its divinity. If you visit Tado Taisha Shrine (多度大社）, you'll realize how Shintoism is related to the nature. Tado Taisha Shrine is located in Kuwana, Mie and the enshrined god is Amatsu Hikone, the third son of the supreme goddess "Amaterasu" and its son Ameno Mahitotsu. Since the main god is in line of the supreme goddess  in the Ise Grand Shrine, it was said that people who visited the grand shrine should visit Tado Taisha shrine to say hello to the goddess' son. As a shrine entity, it was established in 5th century, AD but it is confirmed that there had been the religious services even before its establishment by an archaeology research; stones used for rituals were found in the mountain and it implies that people of the time saw the Tado  Mountain behind the shrine as the place gods live and initiated their own prayers. After th...

This article is a part of the "the guardian of imperial court in Kyoto". Please refer back to my previous articles;  Heian Jingu Shrine ,  Kamo Wake-ikaduchi Jinja Shrine , and  Jo Nan Gu Shrine .  The Main Alter Matsu-no-o Taisha Shrine（松尾大社） is located in the west from the central Kyoto near the Mt. Matsu-no-o, a place which is said that the god lives.The shrine is the the very first shrine in Kyoto area in history (existed before the Emperor Kanmu's move) and it has served as western gurdian of the imperial palace after Kanmu settled.    The shrine was  firstly  built by the local cran called "Hata-Uji(秦氏）". Hata-Uji, the repotedly decendant of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), came from China to Yamashiro area (mainly, the current Kyoto area) and settled. They had had strength in finance, which got them closer to the political power, and Kanmu's move was supported by their finance. After Kanmu  set...

Please refer back to my previous posting; Heian Jingu Shrine  and  Kamo Wake-ikaduchi Jinja Shrine  for the previous series of the imperial guardian shrines. This year, you will be lucky if you go in the west, but will be unlucky if you are in the south-east. When you read fortune telling articles in magazines, you may find this kind of “lucky direction” and “unlucky direction” of the year. This can be resolved into monthly and daily basis; according to my friend who has studied this kind of fortune telling professionally, I’ll be lucky if I go in the south-west in July and in the north in August. These “direction” practices are based on  Ying yang and five elements theory which originates in the ancient China. In the ancient time in Japan, Chinese cultures were cutting-edge and the imperial court of Japan determined to “import” the cutting-edge knowledge ranging from literatures, philosophy to politics, governance and its religious studies into Japan to...

Please refer back to my previous posting "Purification for summer"  before reading this article. Kata-Shiro, the paper doll Retrieved on 2012/7/2 from http://www.sagae-hachimangu.org/diary/bn2005_12.html   At the Nagoshi no Oo harae, we will use a paper-doll called “Kata-shiro” for the latter half of the purification process after the Chi no wa get-through. Usually, the Kata-shiro is made of a white paper and we write our full name and birthday on its body (from chest to wrest of the paper doll), and we will blow at the doll and rub our shoulder with the doll to transfer our uncleanness and sins onto the paper doll. Shintoism is animism. In the manner of the religion, spirits exist in every object (tangible/intangible, visible/invisible) and sometimes we intentionally transfer the sprits to a special symbol (trees, rocks/stones, plants, mirrors etc...) for the religious purpose; those spirit-transferred objects are enshrined at the main alter in a shrine. For...

「水無月の　夏越の祓　するひとは　千歳の命　延ぶというなり」 (It's said that people receiving a purification for Summer in June will be granted a longer life). In shintoism,  unconsciously we would receive  uncleanness  and sins in our life and its purification is very important. Before festivals, prayers, priests/participants should be purified in its religious way but for our daily life, we should also be purified. One of them is "Nagoshi no Oo harae". June 30 is the end of the first half of a year: (January to June is the first half and July to December is the second). In most of shrines in Japan, a festival called  "Nagoshi no Oo harae" is held. This festival's literal meaning is "purification for summer". In the festival, we visit a shrine and purify our unconscious uncleanness and sins.   The ring of straw Retrieved on 2012/7/2 from Wkipedia To do so, we will get through "Chi no wa" (A ring-shaped gate made of straw) placed in the shrine (sometimes d...