Cherry blossom has arrived in Kyoto! The trees along the Kamogawa are out in glorious bloom, and people are flocking to the petals in Hirano Jinja, Kyoto’s special shrine for cherry blossom. Today was a fine day for the emerging … Read the rest
Category: Ancestor worship (Page 1 of 8)
My favourite places are those enriched by myth and unspoilt by the ravages of modern life. The west of England, for instance, with its Arthurian tales and Glastonbury mystique. Here in Japan the time-honoured pathways of Kumano have similar appeal, … Read the rest
This is an extract from a forthcoming book about travel by train the length of Japan. (For Part One click here.) In 1863, after Japan agreed to open up to the West, Emperor Komei in a formal procession to … Read the rest
I have long been intrigued by the gender of Amaterasu because I grew up believing it was a matter of common sense that the sun was male and the earth … Read the rest
Regular readers of this blog will know that we have been keeping an eye on the annual additions to our neighbouring World Heritage shrine of Shimogamo Jinja, here in Kyoto. In recent years this has seen the destruction of considerable … Read the rest
It’s said that ancestor worship is Japan’s true religion, and in my experience that’s true. The sense of continuity that this gives is reassuring, and the sense of immortality it conveys is a wonderful antidote to the finality of death. … Read the rest
The following is the introductory section of a paper by distinguished scholar Klaus Antoni first published in Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 47, 1988: 123-136. The article entitled “Yasukuni-Jinja and Folk Religion: The Problem of Vengeful Spirits” can be read … Read the rest