Ken@Japan

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 ...