As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, a very large jinja in Kanagawa Prefecture, suddenly announced that it was withdrawing from Jinja Honchō. At that point, the motives were unclear. The July 1st issue of Jinja Shinpō contained a report of a press conference held by the chief priest on June 20th, at which he gave his reasons.
These refer to the current problems within Jinja Honchō, in particular the dispute between the president and the chairman, and align him firmly with the chairman. He said that Jinja Honchō had forgotten its original purpose, and that people were just running it in their own interests. In his opinion, the position of the chairman was being undermined, and the Jinja Honchō “Kenshō”, something like a constitution for the organisation that was adopted in 1980, was not being treated as the highest rule, as it should. He said that he had judged that there was no longer any point in trying to reform Jinja Honchō from within, but that he hoped people would respect the chairman, and that Jinja Honchō would reform.
Jinja Honchō responded by acknowledging the jinja’s past contributions, noting that its withdrawal was very sudden, and hoping that it would continue to act in a way appropriate to its history and the dignity of its kami.
This is still a bit strange. Revd Yoshida, the chief priest of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, is a former director of Jinja Honchō, but he has not been visibly active in the current dispute. It is true that Kanagawa Prefecture has been a centre of opposition to the current leadership, but he hasn’t been one of the priests signing his name to those statements, as far as I recall. It is also hard to see how this puts pressure on Jinja Honchō, or what pressure it removes from Revd Yoshida.
My personal impression is that there is either something going on behind the scenes (quite likely, to be honest), or that Revd Yoshida has made a tactical mistake. Time will tell.