On this, the third anniversary of the Tohoku disaster, I’d like to post this excerpt by Richard Lloyd Parry from a longer article he wrote for the London Review of Books. It draws attention to something that I’ve long … Read the rest
Category: Syncretism (Page 11 of 17)
Naturalist Kevin Short’s latest piece for the Japan News concerns the irrigation ponds which are often presided over by a Benten shrine, since the deity is associated with water. (For the full article, see here.)
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Benzaiten started off … Read the rest
February 3 is Setsubun when Japanese mark the seasonal break and look forward to the coming of spring. In Japan’s old lunar calendar, taken from the Chinese, it used to be associated with the New Year which took place … Read the rest
This post is part of a series exploring the pagan pasts of Britain and Japan. One of the salient differences was the attitude of the continental axial religions (Buddhism and Christianity) to the earlier religious practice. In Japan the … Read the rest
What exactly is Shinto? It’s a vexing and intriguing question. Ancient animism which has survived to the present day? An ancestral and tribal religion, which celebrates Japaneseness? An indigenous religion with roots in Yayoi times, or a manipulative system to … Read the rest
Nice article today in the Japan Times by friend Amy Chavez, who writes of the mini 88-pilgrimage on her Inland Sea island of Shiraishi. I’m a huge fan of the island and have spent happy times there. I’ve also … Read the rest
This is the second part of an interview with Christian Grübl, a qualified Yamabushi monk who is introducing Shugendo to Austria. (For the first part, click here.)
Personally, as someone who spent childhood holidays at Wolfgangsee in the … Read the rest