Mimusubi

Tenjin-sama, Sugawara-no-Michizanë, is often described as the kami of scholarship, and for once this is fairly accurate. Strictly speaking, no kami is the “kami of” something abstract, and in many cases that sort of description seriously distorts the image of the kami in Japan. However, the association between Tenjin-sama and scholarship is so strong that, in his case, you can actually say that. He was not always the kami of scholarship, but he is now. This might make it slightly surprising that his sacred animal is the ox, a beast… Read More »Tenjin-sama’s Ox

I have just made the essay about the impact of, and recovery from, the Kumamoto earthquakes of 2016 available for purchase on Gumroad. There were two very strong earthquakes in quick succession, so that the second earthquake, which was the stronger, destroyed a lot of structures weakened by the first. That included a substantial number of jinja, in whole or in part, and the essay is about how the Shinto community responded to this disaster. Almost all of the past essays from my Patreon are now available in some form… Read More »Another Back Issue Available

This year is the year of the cow according to the Chinese zodiac, and so the back page of the year’s first issue of Jinja Shinpō introduced several matsuri and other events associated with cattle. The first was about an area in Niigata Prefecture where they have traditional bull fights. These fights are between two bulls, and they are primarily a Shinto ceremony, so they are not allowed to go on long enough for there to be a winner, or for either of the bulls to get injured. The purification… Read More »Cow-Related Matsuri

I have mentioned that, during the pandemic, a lot of jinja have removed the ladles from their purification fonts, and typically drained the water from the font, to avoid the risk of infection from people using ladles that other people have used. Some jinja have set up alternative arrangements, so that people can rinse their hands without touching anything. Most of these have been at larger jinja, but not all. A few days ago, when I was visiting my local jinja (Shirahata Hachiman Daijin), one of the priests called to… Read More »Safe Purification

There is a position in Jinja Honchō called “san’yo” (参与). This title turns up from time to time in Jinja Shinpō, particularly in obituaries, but I hadn’t managed to work out what sort of position it was. There are a lot of other titles, but over time it became clear from context what they were, at least in general terms. For example, a sanji is a fairly high-ranking employee of Jinja Honchō, while a chōrō is an elderly and eminent chief priest who has been particularly honoured by Jinja Honchō.… Read More »San’yo