Today I witnessed a fully fledged Shin-buddhist ritual. It was carried out by priests of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism at a small shrine in the woods dedicated to the kami, Shichimen Daimyojin. Fascinating!
If, like me, you love the … Read the rest
Category: Shrine visits (Page 19 of 21)
Last weekend was the Kannamesai at Ise Jingu, often called its harvest festival. It’s their major event of the year, and I thought about going but found everything was booked. Then I heard that if you couldn’t visit Ise itself, … Read the rest
1) Origins
Kyoto’s oldest shrine? It’s been battling that out with Kamigamo Jinja for some time now.
The Matsuo area was a stronghold of the Hata clan, the Kamigamo area that of the Kamo. The two clans were settled in … Read the rest
It’s the season of festivals, and yesterday I attended the taisai (big festival) of the small shrine of Uetsuki Hachiman in Koriyama, near Nara. The head priest is Rica Saitoh, who harbours plans for setting up a UK shrine. Here … Read the rest
They say Kyoto’s the most visited place on earth, outside Mecca. Jishu Shrine stands within the Kiyomizu complex, which is the city’s no. 1 tourist spot and a magnet for bus tours. To say it gets crowded is an understatement. … Read the rest
After a tour of the shrine grounds (see Part One), Barrish sensei and I moved towards the entrance of the shrine buildings before which stands the temizuya (water basin). It’s not often at a Shinto shrine you get to … Read the rest
For years I’ve been intrigued by the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America. Here, uniquely, is a fully-fledged Shinto shrine run by a non-Japanese priest under the auspices of Tsubaki Shrine in Mie prefecture. As you can see in the … Read the rest