Suwa Taisha is one of the country’s oldest shrines and well worth a visit for anyone near Nagano Prefecture. Green Shinto has covered the shrine before (click here for a fully illustrated account). This time … Read the rest
Category: Nagano
The following is taken from an academic paper entitled Power Spots and the Charged Landscape of Shinto by Caleb Carter, assistant professor at Kyushu University. First published in the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies in 2018, the article considers the … Read the rest
Thanks to Gabi Greve for pointing out an article in the Mainichi Daily News, which tells of Suwa Lake freezing over. This prompted an ancient fortune-telling rite in accord with local lore that the kami Takeminakata (son of Okuninushi) … Read the rest
Nagano’s an interesting place. It’s the fourth largest prefecture, with a population of just over two million. It’s landlocked and has the furthest point from the sea in Japan. And it’s bordered by more prefectures than anywhere else in the … Read the rest
Nagano in the middle of Japan is fast becoming one of my favourite places. With its mountain scenery, unspoilt landscapes and ancient traditions, what’s not to like? You’ve got to fall for a place where flautists play music for … Read the rest
Over the weekend I was able to visit Lake Nojiri, 20 km north of Nagano on the border with Niigata. It’s in a beautiful setting, about 3 by 2 km in size and with a backdrop of mountains over which … Read the rest