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Shinto

The Chief Priests of Jingū

Jingū, at Isë, is unique among contemporary jinja, at least as far as I know, in having two chief priests. These are called the Dai Gūji (“Great Chief Priest”) and Shō Gūji (“Small Chief Priest”). Both of these people are frequently mentioned in Jinja Shinpō, and as far as I can tell, the distinction between them is as follows. The Shō Gūji is a career priest, and normally someone who has served as a priest at Jingū for years. He (always he) is normally at Jingū, and fills the role… Read More »The Chief Priests of Jingū

Mt Nantai

In the July 4th issue of Jinja Shinpō, there was an article about Nantai Jinja in Ibaraki Prefecture. The article was mainly about a ceremony performed to mark Mt Nantai being opened for mountain climbing after the winter (such ceremonies are fairly common), and the notes on the jinja and its kami at the end were interesting. The notes start by saying that Mt Nantai, because it is also visible from the Pacific Ocean, is venerated as a kami of farming and fishing. It then says that Nantai Jinja enshrines… Read More »Mt Nantai

Laws on Sacred Forests

There have been a couple of articles in Jinja Shinpō on the legal situation around sacred forests, written by a priest who is also a lawyer. (These articles were in the July 4th and July 11th issues.) The first article drew attention to the fact that sacred forests were declining, and that this was generally due to decisions taken by the jinja themselves. The sacred forests are, after all, private property, and so other bodies cannot normally cut them down. (There are occasional exceptions for government-mandated projects.) There are two… Read More »Laws on Sacred Forests

The Assassination of Abë Shinzō

As most readers of this blog have probably already heard, Abë Shinzō, the former prime minister of Japan, was assassinated on July 8th while giving an election speech in Nara. This was a huge shock to Japan as a whole, and Abë was close to the Shinto world, and so there was a front page article about it in the July 17th Jinja Shinpō. Much of the article was conventional, saying what had happened, and summarising his career. However, it focused on his connection to the Shinto world. In 2001… Read More »The Assassination of Abë Shinzō

Research Group on Contemporary Problems in Shinto Practice

Jinja Honchō has just set up a Research Group on Contemporary Problems in Shinto Practice, or, as I will call it, the Digital Group. The main problems it has been asked to deal with are cashless payments and online connections with jinja. The article in Jinja Shinpō, on July 11th, reports that the first meeting was held on June 29th. The group has six members, four of whom are professors at Kokugakuin University, and it is expected to meet several times before writing a report for Jinja Honchō that will… Read More »Research Group on Contemporary Problems in Shinto Practice

Statements on the President

Another post about Shinto politics today, I’m afraid. The 11 July issue of Jinja Shinpō had a short article reporting the official statements on the current state of the elections for the leadership of Jinja Honchō. The Board of Directors held an emergency meeting on June 23rd, and on July 1st (the first day of the financial year for Jinja Honchō), they sent a statement about it to all the Prefectural Jinjachō. This said that four issues had been decided. First, by a majority vote, they had re-elected Revd Tanaka… Read More »Statements on the President