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David Chart

“Transport Jinja”

The 25th January issue of Jinja Shinpō carried an article about the enshrinement of kami in a new jinja. This jinja is called “Transport Jinja” (交通神社), and it is on the roof of a shopping mall attached to JR Miyazaki Station, in southeastern Kyushu. It is sponsored by three transport companies and the company that built the mall, which is closely linked to JR Kyushu (one of the three transport companies). The companies spoke to the priests at Miyazaki Jingū about the project, and the jinja agreed to enshrine a… Read More »“Transport Jinja”

Hatsumōdë Reports

Last week’s Jinja Shinpō contained the first official report on this year’s hatsumōdë, with a suggestion that there would be further articles once the reporters had heard from some smaller jinja around Japan, and had time to build up something of an overview of the country. This year is likely to have been bad, however, and not just because of the pandemic. Some regions had unusually heavy snow, which made it physically difficult to get to some jinja. The overall picture was that jinja saw massive reductions in visitor numbers… Read More »Hatsumōdë Reports

Tenjin-sama’s Ox

Tenjin-sama, Sugawara-no-Michizanë, is often described as the kami of scholarship, and for once this is fairly accurate. Strictly speaking, no kami is the “kami of” something abstract, and in many cases that sort of description seriously distorts the image of the kami in Japan. However, the association between Tenjin-sama and scholarship is so strong that, in his case, you can actually say that. He was not always the kami of scholarship, but he is now. This might make it slightly surprising that his sacred animal is the ox, a beast… Read More »Tenjin-sama’s Ox

Another Back Issue Available

I have just made the essay about the impact of, and recovery from, the Kumamoto earthquakes of 2016 available for purchase on Gumroad. There were two very strong earthquakes in quick succession, so that the second earthquake, which was the stronger, destroyed a lot of structures weakened by the first. That included a substantial number of jinja, in whole or in part, and the essay is about how the Shinto community responded to this disaster. Almost all of the past essays from my Patreon are now available in some form… Read More »Another Back Issue Available

Cow-Related Matsuri

This year is the year of the cow according to the Chinese zodiac, and so the back page of the year’s first issue of Jinja Shinpō introduced several matsuri and other events associated with cattle. The first was about an area in Niigata Prefecture where they have traditional bull fights. These fights are between two bulls, and they are primarily a Shinto ceremony, so they are not allowed to go on long enough for there to be a winner, or for either of the bulls to get injured. The purification… Read More »Cow-Related Matsuri

Safe Purification

I have mentioned that, during the pandemic, a lot of jinja have removed the ladles from their purification fonts, and typically drained the water from the font, to avoid the risk of infection from people using ladles that other people have used. Some jinja have set up alternative arrangements, so that people can rinse their hands without touching anything. Most of these have been at larger jinja, but not all. A few days ago, when I was visiting my local jinja (Shirahata Hachiman Daijin), one of the priests called to… Read More »Safe Purification