Forestry with Parishioners
Another article in the series about sacred forests was in the December 13th issue of Jinja Shinpō. It was written by a priest of Hiraoka Jinja in Osaka Prefecture, the original jinja enshrining Amënokoyanë, the ancestral kami of the Nakatomi and Fujiwara. In 2001, when he had been at the jinja for nine years, its umë grove was selected as one of the “100 Best Smelling Places in Japan” by the Environment Ministry. He doesn’t recall having much reaction beyond thinking “yes, it does smell nice”, but the selection got… Read More »Forestry with Parishioners