I was driving along a road near Shirakami Sanchi, the mountainous beech forests that straddle Aomori and Akita prefectures, when I happened to notice the above banner by the roadside saying ‘Believe in the kami from your heart’. I’d been … Read the rest
Japan Today reports an unusual ritual carried out on a lone survivor of last year’s Tohoku tsunami. It must surely be a first: hard to imagine there’s any precedent!
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Tsunami ‘miracle pine’ cut down as part of project to … Read the rest
Thanks to Green Shinto friend, Mark Schumacher (dictionary of Japanese religion), for pointing out this Japan Times article on a phenomenon that I have come across at a few places around Japan. It might not be politically correct … Read the rest
Here’s an odd but intriguing idea: a plan to convert the failed nuclear power stations of Fukushima into Shinto shrines!! And no, it’s not an April 1 joke, for the article was posted on March 18 in the Japan … Read the rest
One of the delights of Kyoto is coming unexpectedly across places of historical import.
This evening on the way home I passed a torii affixed to a building with a small dark opening. A nearby noticeboard announced that it … Read the rest
Notice anything odd about this photograph?
It’s not the girls posing for a photo, nor the gaijin with a guitar on his back. It’s the pair of shishsi (Chiinese lion) guardians, which unusually (exceptionally?) have both their mouths open. … Read the rest
One comes across all kinds of intriguing items at Shinto shrines. The picture above provides an example. What on earth could these ‘holy’ ladles have to do with Shinto!
The answer is rather difficult to guess, but in its way … Read the rest
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