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Facing Depopulation

The depopulation of rural areas of Japan is a serious problem for the whole country, and Shinto is in no way exempt. In some ways, Shinto is more seriously affected than many fields, because jinja are closely tied to particular locations, and cannot move very far, even if the same kami can be (and sometimes is) venerated in other places. In addition, matsuri linked to particular rural jinja are at serious risk, because in many cases there are simply not enough people in the area to hold them any longer.… Read More »Facing Depopulation

New Book: Myths from the Harima Fudoki

I have just made Myths from the Harima Fudoki available on Amazon. This is another compilation of my Patreon essays, but because there are a lot of interesting myths in this Fudoki, it is a compilation of three essays, rather than the normal two. Here is the blurb: The Harima-no-Kuni Fudoki is a gazetteer of the province of Harima, part of modern Hyōgo Prefecture, in the early eighth century. It contains a lot of myths about the kami of that region, and these myths include both kami who do appear in the… Read More »New Book: Myths from the Harima Fudoki

Repairs

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the damage done to the stone fence (tamagaki) at Shirahata Hachiman Daijin by a truck driver who, I suspect, was blindly following GPS guidance and not paying attention to how big the vehicle was. I mentioned at the time that I expected it to be a short-term problem for the jinja, and so it proved. The repairs have now been completed. As you can see from the pictures, only one part of the tamagaki needed replacing — the large pillar at the left… Read More »Repairs

Special Kinensai

The Kinensai is a matsuri that is (supposed to be) held at all jinja across Japan on February 17th, to pray for a good harvest. It is recorded in the eighth century regulations for the central government’s matsuri, and it is fairly safe to assume that the basic idea, at least, goes back further. The current form was standardised in the late nineteenth century, and it is supposed to be a taisai (grand matsuri) at all jinja. Today, I want to write about how it was held this year at… Read More »Special Kinensai

Jinja: Heart of Japan in PDF

I have mentioned before on this blog that I wrote a booklet for Jinja Honchō entitled “Jinja: Heart of Japan” to serve as their general introduction to Shinto for foreigners. Most of the content was incorporated into Jinja Honchō’s English language website, and has been available for a while, but the only way to see the full booklet was to get hold of a physical copy. That has changed. The PDF is now available on their website. As you can see, there are nine languages available. The choice of languages… Read More »Jinja: Heart of Japan in PDF

Hemp

I have written before on this blog about hemp. Hemp is historically important in Shinto ritual, being used in traditional offerings and purifications, and it is also the plant that produces cannabis. This has caused problems, because Japan’s anti-drug, and anti-cannabis, laws are really strict. They are so strict that, until very recently, it was essentially impossible to get new permission to grow hemp with no psychoactive content. There were a few growers who had been grandfathered in, but they were not finding successors, and sometimes were being strangled by… Read More »Hemp