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Hatsumōdë 2025

The 20th January issue of Jinja Shinpō had a front-page article about this year’s hatsumōdë. The editorial on the second page said that this year was relatively calm and trouble-free. Given that last year had a natural disaster and a plane crash, and the previous three years were in the throes of a global pandemic, “relatively trouble-free” is not a high bar. Even taking a longer view, it does seem to have been a good year, with pleasant weather over most of the country. This article is based on interviews… Read More »Hatsumōdë 2025

Becoming Chief Priest

I have been reporting on all of Revd Tagawa’s columns about her career as a priest, but she is not the only female priest writing in the Komorebi (“Sunlight Through Leaves”) column of Jinja Shinpō. The other is Revd Nonaka, and in the January 13th issue she wrote about when she became a chief priest. It is… a bit different. She starts by saying that, in the year we changed from Heisei to Reiwa (2019), she became the chief priest of the jinja where she was serving, because she couldn’t… Read More »Becoming Chief Priest

Jingū Shikinen Zōeichō

As I have mentioned before, preparations for the next Shikinen Sengū at Isë Jingū, which is expected to be held in 2033, have begun. Last year was concerned with preliminaries, but if things follow the normal schedule the first two matsuri, the Yamaguchisai and Konomotosai, will be performed in May this year. The Shikinen Sengū is an enormous job, involving not only the rebuilding of the main sanctuaries, but also the crafting, following the traditional specifications, of hundreds of sacred treasures. Managing this process is also an enormous job, and… Read More »Jingū Shikinen Zōeichō

Daijōsai Archaeology

The Daijōsai is an important Shinto ceremony that is conducted by each Tennō at the beginning of their reign. I wrote an essay about it around the time of the current Tennō’s accession, which you can buy on Amazon (affiliate link!). The history of the ceremony is not continuous, because there were a couple of centuries in which the Tennō did not have the resources necessary to perform it — it requires several buildings to be constructed from scratch, and then demolished, among other things. However, the Tennō always wanted… Read More »Daijōsai Archaeology

Foreigners at Jinja

One of the year-opening articles in the January 1st issue of Jinja Shinpō is by a priest born in 1941 who currently works at Meiji Jingū. He observes that many foreigners, of all kinds, visit Meiji Jingū every year, and that they all seem to enjoy the experience. He says that the department where he works — Meiji Jingū’s International Shinto Culture Research Center — has focused on introducing the sacred forest and helping people to feel the sacred power within nature, and on the ideals of the kami of… Read More »Foreigners at Jinja

Year Opening Articles

At the end of each year, Jinja Shinpō invites people who were born in the same zodiacal year as the following year (so, for this year, the year of the snake) to write short articles, which are published over the course of January. These are short opinion pieces, and while some people are individually asked to write them, there is also an open call, announced in the newspaper. A few years ago, I wrote one and sent it in for the open call, and they published it. Because the zodiacal… Read More »Year Opening Articles