It’s a game of the gods. Some say it’s the origins of football. But the way I see it, kemari is an ancient rite in which participants kick a ball to each other with the intention of not letting … Read the rest
Category: Festivals (Page 21 of 26)
New Year is such a great time to be in Japan. Apart from all the shrine visits for Hatsumode, there are a number of ‘first events’ to celebrate the beginning of a new year. Here is a small selection of … Read the rest
Christmas Day with a difference at a laughing festival where you can “open the Rock Door of your heart”.
It takes place on Dec. 25 at a shrine near Osaka, and you can see the event on this youtube video… Read the rest
Shirakawa-go is a World Heritage Site in the Gifu mountains, notable for its gassho-zukuri (prayer-hands) housing, so-called because the tall roofs resemble hands at prayer. The architecture developed because of the heavy snowfalls, which could crush normal roofs and … Read the rest
There are three shrines among Kyoto’s World Heritage designation, of which the twinned pair of Shimogamo and Kamigamo are two. The third is Ujigami Jinja outside the city proper, which has the oldest shrine building in Japan. Its honden, where … Read the rest
My local shrine in Kyoto, Shimogamo Jinja, happens to be one of the city’s 17 World Heritage ‘properties’. Today it held a festival for used hanko seals at which there was a ritual of some thirty minutes for priests … Read the rest
I’m touring the delightful World Heritage Site of Shirakami Sanchi at the moment, noted for its mountainous virgin beech forests, in the northern part of Tohoku. On the way I happened to come across a festival near the World … Read the rest