Oh-agata Jinja is a shrine near Nagoya dedicated to Oh-Agata, a kami who is said to have founded the local area of Owari County. It’s known for its female fertility symbols and attracts women seeking marriage or the birth … Read the rest
Category: Fertility (Page 3 of 3)
Today is Honen Matsuri at Tagata Jinja in the small town of Komaki, outside Nagoya, which attracts a lot of attention among Westerners because of its phallus-based rituals. It says much about the repressions of a Christian-based culture. The main … Read the rest
February 25 every year is Baika sai (Plum blossom festival) at Kyoto’s Kitano Tenmangu shrine. It’s also the monthly flea market known as Tenjin san. (Tenjin is the Kitano kami, alias Sugawara Michizane (845-903), a Heian-era statesman. )
Plum … Read the rest
With spring comes a rash of fertility festivals, designed to further the success of the year’s crops. These have ancient origins and go back to a time when the very existence of villagers depended on the success of the harvest. … Read the rest
Entrance to Yaegaki Shrine with characteristic Izumo-style rice rope
Japan is a land of pilgrimages, and wherever you go there’s some kind of ‘course’ to follow. In former times this would have involved walking; nowadays it’s done for the most … Read the rest