This is the third and final part of a mini-series about Japanese kami taken from Joseph Cali’s introduction to the recently published Shinto Shrines by University of Hawaii Press. (The paragraphing and photos are my own.) [For Part One: Concept,
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Category: Syncretism (Page 14 of 17)
There’s an exciting lecture coming up in Kyoto on the 23rd of this month on “Assembling Shinto: Buddhist approaches to kami worship in medieval Japan” by Anna Andreeva. It’s part of an excellent series put on by the European Consortium … Read the rest
The pagan tradition
The New Year rites in Japan are a reminder of how celebrating the yearly round is an important part of pagan traditions. It signifies our connection with the natural cycle and our rootedness in Mother Earth. Above … Read the rest
Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 Japan Times By TOMOKO OTAKE
Instead of visiting one shrine, visit seven
A fun thing I like to do at New Year’s is to go on a walking tour of seven shrines and temples in Tokyo. … Read the rest
Yakushima is an island 60 kilometers south of Kyushu, most of which is registered as a World Heritage Site on account of its primeval forest featuring giant cedars, known as Yakusugi. These magnificent giants are literally thousands of years … Read the rest
Itsukushima Jinja is Japan’s premier World Heritage shrine. Inscribed by Unesco in 1996, it was cited for ‘setting traditional architecture of great artistic and technical merit against a dramatic natural background and thereby creating a work of art of incomparable … Read the rest
Shirakawa-go is a World Heritage Site in the Gifu mountains, notable for its gassho-zukuri (prayer-hands) housing, so-called because the tall roofs resemble hands at prayer. The architecture developed because of the heavy snowfalls, which could crush normal roofs and … Read the rest