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David Chart

Jinja Kō

My patrons continued discussing Shinto overseas after my recent post on the subject, and one of them raised an interesting point that ties into historical customs. They asked whether some sort of proxy jinja visit would be possible, and that is something that was a standard part of practice within Japan for centuries. One of the biggest problems for people who want to practise Shinto outside Japan is getting hold of ofuda. While I am continuing to work with Jinja Honchō on this issue, there are still a lot of… Read More »Jinja Kō

Riders’ Jinja

The November 27th issue of Jinja Shinpō had an interesting article about the establishment of the first “Riders’ Jinja” in Tōhoku, at Yuriagë Minato Jinja in Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture. What is a “Riders’ Jinja”, you may well ask. These are a recent innovation, established on the initiative of what sounds like “weekend bikers” — people who like riding around the countryside on their motorbikes. A Riders’ Jinja is a jinja that actively welcomes them stopping by. It will provide prayers for safe travel, of course, but it is also… Read More »Riders’ Jinja

Removing Jetpack

This website has been running Jetpack, one of the most common WordPress plug-ins. It is good, and useful. However, it has a huge number of functions, of which I use hardly any, and it is a bad idea, from both a security and a performance perspective, to have lots of code you aren’t using on your system. Thus, I planned to remove it, and I have transitioned to specialised alternatives for most of the functions I do use. The only one I think I can’t replace is the “Like” button,… Read More »Removing Jetpack

Which Spirits are Consoled?

This will be my final post about the articles in issue 269 of the Journal of Shinto Studies, although the combined issue 270/271 has just arrived, and may contain material of interest. The article I am writing about today is “Disasters, Contagion, and the Consolation of Spirits: What is Needed for Consolation?” by Nomura Makoto. This article is also a summary of a presentation at the annual conference, but unlike most of the others it does not give many details about the argument, so I can only give the overall… Read More »Which Spirits are Consoled?

Jingū Taima Promotion

The November 27th issue of Jinja Shinpō includes an article about an event held at a shopping mall in Saitama Prefecture to promote Jingū Taima. This was part of the prefectural Jinjachō’s general efforts to increase the uptake of Jingū Taima, and ran for six days at a mall that is popular with families with parents in their thirties and forties. On weekdays, there was a display about Jingū, Jingū Taima, and their connections to Saitama, along with an opportunity to identify your local jinja, while at the weekend they… Read More »Jingū Taima Promotion

Shinto Overseas

Another question that came up on my Patreon after my post about the future of Shinto was the question of how I saw Shinto developing outside Japan. Obviously, I am directly involved in that, so I have rather more concrete goals than I do for the future of Jinja Shinto within Japan. The first point to make this time is that very few people outside Japan have even heard of Shinto. Readers of this blog are members of an intellectual elite! The purpose of Mimusubi is to make it easier… Read More »Shinto Overseas