Shinto

April’s Patreon essay was about the archaeology of Shinto, and it is now available for purchase on Gumroad. Although the earliest written records of Shinto date from the eighth century, they describe an existing practice. Archaeology provides the only evidence we have on just how much further back it goes — and it seems that we have good evidence as far back as the fourth century.

The April 26th issue of Jinja Shinpō had a couple of articles about the ongoing court case involving Jinja Honchō. I’ll keep this brief, because it’s not particularly about Shinto, but people who read the earlier articles might want to know what is happening. The Board of Directors has decided to appeal. There are two important points at issue. One is whether the disciplinary action was legitimate, and the other is whether the actions that those employees were complaining about, the sale of some real estate, were corrupt. The court… Read More »Court Case Update

The April 19th issue of Jinja Shinpō has an article that draws out some of the issues from my post last week about public and private matsuri. A jinja in Tokyo had little leaflets printed with a prayer for people to say at their family kamidana, to pray for the recovery of northeast Japan (Tōhoku) after the tsunami in 2011. The leaflets were printed and distributed because, although the tenth anniversary of the disaster was on March 11th this year, the pandemic meant that the jinja could not invite anyone… Read More »Privately Public

The April 19th issue of Jinja Shinpō introduced Shinto playing cards, which have been developed by the Shinto Youth Association. These are standard playing cards — four suits of thirteen cards each, with two jokers — with pictures of Shinto things on each one. There are also short explanations. For example, going by the picture in the paper, “torii” is on the seven of spades, while “kagura” is on the jack of hearts. The idea is that these packs of cards could be given out to children at shichi-go-san (two… Read More »Shinto Playing Cards

The April 12^th issue of Jinja Shinpō carried an interesting short article, written by someone in their final year of training for the Shinto priesthood at Kokugakuin University. Their concern was that, in order to avoid spreading COVID-19, many matsuri were being held with minimal attendance, often just the officiating priests, and that this was against the basic character of Shinto. They argued that jinja, and matsuri, should be open to everyone.

If you have a formal ceremony performed at a jinja, a seishiki (or shōden) sanpai, the priest includes your address and name in the norito that is read to the kami. This is so that the kami knows who the prayer is for. After your name, the priest says “eeeeeee”. There is normally a short pause before and after that sound as well.

What’s that about?