Mimusubi

A few days ago, I was talking about translation with people at Jinja Honchō (as I often do, that being my job…), and the difficulty of translating certain words came up. I have mentioned before that “kami” is basically untranslatable, which is why I don’t. In this post, I want to talk about “worship”. It is not uncommon for “sūhai” or “hairei” to be translated as “worship”, “haiden” to be translated as “worship hall”, and “sūkeisha” to be translated as “worshipper”. I try to avoid all of those translations. “Sūhai”… Read More »“Worship”

Yes, I normally call them “jinja”, but I couldn’t resist the alliteration. It seems that the old Imperial Japanese Navy had a custom of installing jinja on its ships. This was not just a kamidana, but rather a full jinja, with the kami brought from a jinja that had some connection to the ship. The Navy, and the modern Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF — which are definitely not a navy), had a practice of naming ships after geographical features of Japan, which meant that a jinja connected with that feature… Read More »Of Ships and Shrines

The slogan in Japan these days is “with corona” (wizu korona), which suggests adapting the way you do things so that you can get on with something as close as possible to normal life before COVID-19 has gone away. Jinja are also doing this, in an attempt to maintain both the traditions and their financial basis. The October 5th issue of Jinja Shinpō included a report from the chief priest of a jinja in Tokyo, Ōtori Jinja (probably — the reading for the kanji is not given, and jinja are… Read More »Matsuri Strategy

Revd Sano’s article really seems to have started a new trend for articles critical of Jinja Honchō in Jinja Shinpō. The October 5th issue included a short article criticising a different aspect of Jinja Honchō’s activities: its response to the pandemic. To be honest, this criticism is rather more muted, because it opens with an appreciation of the guidelines and pictograms that Jinja Honchō and the prefectural Jinjachō have made available, and goes on to raise two questions rather than directly criticise. The questions, however, are critical. The article was… Read More »Disagreement about COVID-19

Jinja Shinpō is continuing to publish articles from individual priests criticising, or at least questioning, Jinja Honchō’s recent actions. At the end of September, they published two more. One, from a chief priest in Okayama Prefecture in western Japan, is focused on the recent problems over the sale of employee accommodation. He gives a summary of what he has picked up about the events, but notes that there has been no substantive statement from Jinja Honchō, and even Jinja Shinpō has been short on details. He argues that Jinja Honchō… Read More »Focused Dissent and Deep Dissent

The hatsumōdë jinja visit at the beginning of the new year is a firmly established tradition in contemporary Japan. Anywhere from dozens to millions of people descend on each jinja to pay their respects, receive ofuda to venerate in the new year, and provide the foundation for the jinja’s financial survival over the following year. This presents jinja with a major problem this time. They cannot afford to simply cancel hatsumōdë, in most cases; the income is vital to paying the bills over the rest of the year. On the… Read More »Yōhai Gohei