This is an extract from a forthcoming book about travel by train the length of Japan. (For Part One click here.) In 1863, after Japan agreed to open up to the West, Emperor Komei in a formal procession to … Read the rest
Category: Death (Page 1 of 7)
This is an extract from a forthcoming book about travel by train the length of Japan. (For Part One click here.)The passage considers the historical treatment of animals in Japan. Despite being a so-called nature religion, Shinto has shown … Read the rest
Kyoto’s Ryoan-ji houses the most famous rock garden in the world. Sadly the World Heritage site is closed at present, because of the Coronavirus crisis. Not many people know, … Read the rest
The following piece concerns Shinto and Shugendo responses to the Corona crisis. It is extracted from a longer article by Levi McLaughlin entitled Japanese Religious Responses to Covid-19. (Photos from the original article.)
**********************
Ritual expulsion of COVID-19 is … Read the rest
The following is the introductory section of a paper by distinguished scholar Klaus Antoni first published in Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 47, 1988: 123-136. The article entitled “Yasukuni-Jinja and Folk Religion: The Problem of Vengeful Spirits” can be read … Read the rest
March 11, 2011 was a devastating day for Japan. Over 18,500 people perished in the gigantic tsunami that swept over the coastline of Tohoku in the country’s north-east. What’s more it led to a nuclear meltdown, the consequences of which … Read the rest
The NHK website has a radio programme lasting 12 minutes about ways of appreciating a fourth century mirror. It includes observations on the design, the history of mirrors in general and in the Far East in particular, as well as … Read the rest