Mimusubi

I have just finished reading Shinto: A History by Helen Hardacre. (Affiliate link) It is the best history of Shinto available in English at the moment, and while that is not exactly a crowded field, it is head-and-shoulders above the competition. I would expect this to remain the standard one-volume history of Shinto in English for a good few years yet, because there would need to be significant changes in the general view of the topic to make it worth anyone’s while to produce a competing volume. I certainly don’t… Read More »A Review of Shinto: A History

Jinja Shinpō introduced another video created by a group of Shinto priests in Tokyo, in the February 28th issue. This video was created by priests in rural Tokyo, and includes both a recitation of the haraëkotoba (the standard purification prayer) and video of misogi, purification in water. Note that “rural Tokyo” is a thing, as you can see in the video. The prefecture extends up into the mountains, and there is no city within it called Tokyo, so there are no grounds for saying that this is “not really Tokyo”.… Read More »Haraë and Misogi Video

I have made two more of my essays from my Patreon available for purchase on Amazon: Myths of Okinagatarashihimë. (Affiliate link) Okinagatarashihimë, also known as Jingū Kōgō, is an important figure in the early myths of Japan. The wife of a Tennō (emperor), she was possessed by the kami and delivered an oracle saying that her husband should conquer the Korean peninsula. He ignored this and died, so she took his place, leading the conquest while pregnant with her son, the next Tennō. After returning to Japan, she ruled on… Read More »Myths of Okinagatarashihimë

As I have described in my book, my ujigami jinja, Shirahata Hachiman Daijin, has a special matsuri on the first day of the rabbit in March, and as part of this matsuri a straw snake is hung on the torii, where a shimënawa would normally go. This year’s snake went up a couple of weeks ago. Click on the images for larger versions. This matsuri is technically run by a “kō”, a group of people with a special devotion to a particular kami or jinja, rather than by the jinja… Read More »2022 Snake

If you read English-language discussions of Shinto, you are almost certain to come across references to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Indeed, I am currently reading Helen Hardacre’s Shinto: A History, which is good so far, and she refers to the kami in the same way. Is this legitimate? As readers of this blog and my other writings about Shinto probably already know, I do not translate “kami” at all, and certainly not as “god”. The concepts are very different, and referring to “kami” as “gods” is likely to make Shinto… Read More »The Sun Goddess Amaterasu?

The hardcover, full colour version of An Introduction to Shinto is now available from Amazon. (Affiliate link) It is really expensive, because of the cost of colour printing: $59.99. In addition, because of problems with the ISBN, I am afraid that I will not be able to make it available from any outlet other than Amazon in the near future. I would like to — the electronic version is available from Gumroad — but regulations make it impractical. It takes them a long time to print it, but the images in the proof copy,… Read More »An Introduction to Shinto in Hardcover