Last year I took the direct flight to the island of Miyakojima in Okinawa for a few days spring sunshine. It was so wonderful that I decided to go again, but this time instead of touring the island by rented … Read the rest
Category: Animism (Page 8 of 19)
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A stupendous ghost!
Looking eastward from the great bridge over those sharply beautiful mountains, green and blue, which tooth the horizon, I see a glorious spectre towering to the sky. Its base is effaced by far mists: out of
Some years ago I visited Lafcadio Hearn’s house in Matsue City, which is preserved just as when he lived in it. It’s an attractive former samurai house next to the moat around Matsue Castle. The garden he described in his … Read the rest
The trailblazing Megan Manson has written of the similarity of fairies and kami on her Shinto Pagan website. She writes excellent book reviews, and one of her top recommendations of books in 2016 was on Fairycraft. ‘It is … Read the rest
I happened to come across a Japanese book the other day that very much took my fancy. It was called Ishigami san o tazunete (Visiting Stone Kami) and was produced by the editorial staff of a local publisher in the … Read the rest
Sadly for a ‘nature religion’ Shinto does not have a proud record in terms of animal rights. There has been no campaigning on the issue, and no notable record of opposing animal cruelty. Quite the opposite in fact, as previous … Read the rest
Call it earth worship, call it Gaia, call it neo-paganism, but ancient elements of animism are finding new life in a New Age, and as the revival takes hold, the commonalities with Shinto become ever more apparent. But whereas Britain’s … Read the rest