Ken@Japan

Refer to my previous articles "Hakozaki-Gu shrine" and "Kashii-Gu shrine".   When the Empress Jingu and her imperial army were approaching to the Korean peninsula, Sumiyoshi-deities, the one who advised her to go to   S illa and Paekche 　instead  of K umaso area in Kyushu, supported her. The Sumiyoshis promised her that its Nigi-mitama (the calm spirit; refer to the article ) secured her safety and its ara-mitama (the aggressive spirit) made strong sea winds to push the vessels forward. According to the legend, the Empress did conquer the countries without direct fights versus the local people in the countries, and actually succeeded in merging them into Japan. After the triumph, she gave a birth to a son who the deities promised as the next emperor in the current Fukuoka, and the Empress and her newborn went back to the imperial capital in Yamato (the current Nara prefecture. On her way back, Sumiyoshis asked her to...

People have various aspects in their minds. They are happy but suddenly may be unhappy. Sometimes they are angry but finally softened. Depending on, our minds keep changing and we need to control in some situations. Deities in japan have also the same tendency. Sometimes they are calm, supportive and gentle, but in some occasions they would be offensive, vehement and angry. In shintoism, the tendency is divided into two spirits; Calm spirits and aggressive spirits. It is said that each deity in the religion has this kind of spirits opposing each other in the same deity's character and in most cases those spirits are enshrined separately in a shrine. For example, the calm spirit of Amaterasu-the supreme sun deity is enshrined in the main building of Inner shrine at Ise Grand Shrine, while its aggressive spirit is enshrined in an annex building in the same shrine. The calm spirit is called "Nigi-mitama" （和魂）. The spirit represents "normal" and "stab...