Green Shinto has written several items on the fertility aspects of Japan’s religious heritage, including the famous Hounen Matsuri where large phallic symbols are born around town and shrines such as Yaegaki Jinja in Shimane Prefecture where phallic objects … Read the rest
Last night in Kyoto I attended a striking butoh performance entitled ‘Uzume’. It portrayed the Kojiki deity in the distinctive manner of butoh, which meant that rather than simple narrative there was a succession of scenes in which the … Read the rest
Folk Shinto has much to commend it. It is free of dogma, morality and hierarchy. It fosters a form of spirituality based on nature and ancestral spirits. It is open to anyone with a sense of tradition and the … Read the rest
The spring equinox is celebrated in Japan with Shunbun no hi, a national holiday. It was established in 1948 as a day for the admiration of nature and the love of living things. Prior to 1948, the vernal … Read the rest
Green Shinto friend, Mark Schumacher, has produced an informative overview of Dosojin for his onmark website about Japanese Religions. Dosojin are protective markers that used to be placed at village boundaries, often with fertility symbols to encourage the growth of … Read the rest
Two intriguing links that appeared in my Inbox today, one in prose and the other in photos…
The first is a short article summarising the religious import of the Higgs Boson particle:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-clayton-phd/relationship-between-scie_b_1653976.html
The other is from the wonderful blog … Read the rest
Otafuku is a curious crossbreed character, familiar to anyone who lives in Japan. She’s a dumpy, homely, cheery faced figure who’s also a bringer of happiness. At some shrines she’s given out as an engimono (good luck charm). But … Read the rest
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