This year, the Community of Sant’Egidio held its meeting for peace in Berlin. Last year, when it was in Rome, I was part of the Jinja Honchō delegation, but this year the decision was that I wouldn’t go. I am told that things went well enough, so we will see what happens next year. If they suddenly decide that I should go again, that would suggest there was room for improvement…
Anyway, three people went in the end: the director of our department (Revd Ushio), the head of our section (Revd Mitsui), and one of the staff members of the section (Revd Iitsuka). Their attendance was reported in Jinja Shinpō, in the October 2nd issue. The Sant’Egidio meeting does involve sessions at which religious leaders talk about peace, much like the Kazakhstan congress, but it also has a distinctive additional element: a prayer for peace. They ask all the attendees to pray for peace within their tradition.
We did that last time, and had an audience, because Shinto priests do not mind people just watching, and it is something that many people have never seen. This time, it appears that they had a rather larger audience, and I think that was because Revd Iitsuka danced.
While she is a licensed priest, she has also, like most priests, learned one of the basic kagura dances, and she performed that during the prayer for peace. That was not her only job by any means — she has much better English than the other two delegates, so she was the translator for much of the time, for a start. However, she was originally added to the group so that the dance could be included in the prayer. Those dances are normally performed by women, which meant that Jinja Honchō decided to send a woman as part of their delegation to an international event.
I think this is the first time that has happened.
Revd Iitsuka is still pretty junior within Jinja Honchō, so a man in the same position would basically be an assistant on the trip (and, indeed, was last year). Other than the dance, then, her role was no different from that that a man would have played. With any luck, this will set a precedent.
Nice, sounds like it went well! By the way, I recently did my first Jinja visit. I went to Sumiyoshi Taisha. I realized there are many honden at Sumiyoshi and visitors would do a cycle around the premise going to each one. Also a couple things to ask: I have two Omamori now, one from Sumiyoshi Taisha and my local Izanagi Jinja and when it’s time to return the Omamori do I bring them to each Jinja I originally got them from or can I bring them to one? Also, just an observation I noticed at Sumiyoshi Taisha they had a phone booth with a roof matching the roofs of the honden, and I wondered if that counted as a form of giving respect to the kami, since you are exchanging coins in a phone booth that looks like a Jinja. Finally, I met a raven at the Jinja, it was perched on-top of the small roof and it seemed interested, I’m not sure if it’s considered auspicious in Shinto. Oh, and when I visited the Jinja’s local park area, I also saw a crane resting by a pond, I thought that was pretty lucky.
Let me do my best to answer the questions.
For the omamori, the ideal is to take them back to the jinja where you received them. However, when that is impractical, it is fine to take them all to the same jinja. I return omamori from my local jinja to that one, and ones from Kinkazan Koganëyama Jinja to that one, because I go every year, but omamori from other jinja go to my local jinja.
As for the phone booth, if you wanted to interpret that as expressing respect for the kami, that would be fine. The priests have clearly decided that it is appropriate.
Ravens always look interested… They are certainly not inauspicious, although they are associated with Kumano jinja, rather than Sumiyoshi jinja, in particular. If the event felt positive to you, I think you should interpret it that way. There is no “standard” Shinto interpretation.
I hope this helps!