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Kazakhstan 2026

Last week I went to Kazakhstan again, for the 24th meeting of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. I have now been to Kazakhstan so often that the tour guides recognise me. (Well, only one — but still!) Because this was the Secretariat, rather than the main Congress, there were only two of us from Jinja Honchō — me, and Revd Abë, the new head of the International Section. There was also only one day of meetings, but the timing of the flights meant… Read More »Kazakhstan 2026

Priestly Successors

One topic that Sakurai handles several times in his book is the problem of successors for priests. This is something that comes up a lot, but Sakurai is more willing than most to write clearly about the elements that make this problem particularly difficult to solve. One of the manifestations of the shortage of priests is the number of priests who are responsible for forty or fifty jinja. However, while this is quite a lot of pressure on the chief priests, they do not necessarily want to give any of… Read More »Priestly Successors

Alliances

I recently read a book entitled Jinja Kanri Un’ei Ron Nōto (Notes on Management Theory for Jinja, 神社管理運営論ノート), by Sakurai Yoshio (櫻井良生). Revd Sakurai is a priest, but his main career seems to have been in the law — his doctorate, which he got after retirement, was about arbitration processes. He teaches “Law for Priests” to trainee priests at Kōgakkan University, and a lot of the book is basically “how not to get sued”. That includes advice like “yes, you have to pay priests overtime”, for example. The Shinto community… Read More »Alliances

Ōmononushi

Issue 282 of the Journal of Shinto Studies (神道宗教) included an article by Adachi Ryō, “Thoughts about the Divine Status of Ōmononushi-no-kami in the Kojiki”. Ōmononushi is the main kami of Ōmiwa Jinja in Nara Prefecture, which is one of the oldest jinja in Japan, and he is an important figure in several myths. In this article, Adachi argues that the myths all portray Ōmononushi as a kami who saves people in distress, particularly the nation and the Imperial line. This conflicts with the standard interpretation of one myth, in… Read More »Ōmononushi

Yoshida Shinto

Issue 282 of the Journal of Shinto Studies (神道宗教) contained two articles about Yoshida Shinto: “The Early Modern Reception of the Yoshida Family’s Medieval Research on Shrines”, by Arai Daisuke, and “A Study of the Formation Process of Kiyohara Senken’s Gyōjihi”, by Nitta Keizō. I am not going to get into the details, because both papers are careful philological studies looking at the sources used in creating historical works, but I think it would be useful to say something about Yoshida Shinto. Yoshida Shinto was created by Yoshida Kanetomo (1435–1511),… Read More »Yoshida Shinto

Ujigami Jinja and Sūkei Jinja

There is a fundamental division between types of jinja in Jinja Shinto. There are ujigami jinja, and there are sūkei jinja. An ujigami jinja is supported by the people who live in the area around that jinja, while a sūkei jinja is supported by people who feel a connection to the jinja, no matter where they live. Historically, almost all jinja were ujigami jinja. Travel was difficult and infrequent, and so the only jinja that could become sūkei jinja were those that supported their own organisation of travelling priests. Those… Read More »Ujigami Jinja and Sūkei Jinja