The above angry dragon was displayed at Shimogamo Jinja prior to the change of year and seems very apt in retrospect, given the awful earthquake at the very outset of the year, Jan 1, in the Hokuriku area (Kanazawa and … Read the rest
Category: Mythology (Page 1 of 11)
This is part of an ongoing series about travelling the length of Japan by train, and consists of passages with a Shinto or spiritual flavour. They are extracted from a longer book version due to be published by Stone Bridge … Read the rest
The small community of Tsuwano (pop.. 7,500) is a castle town that has lost its castle, a ‘little Kyoto’ with the emphasis on little. Squeezed in-between steep mountains, it is compact yet intriguing. I was lucky enough to be shown … Read the rest
My next visit was to Hakuto Shrine, notable for enshrining a white rabbit. Not Alice’s white rabbit, of course. In fact, not a rabbit at all but a hare, as the … 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
For those of us interested in roots and continental connections, Susanoo is an intriguing character who initiates a whole cycle of myths in Kojiki (712). In the twentieth century propagandists seized on his estranged relationship with Amaterasu to present him … Read the rest
Thanks to Green Shinto reader, Aaron Carson, for drawing our attention to a 1959 film of Japanese mythology which is available with English subtitles at … Read the rest