Foxes have played a significant part in Japanese folklore, quite apart from their role as a servant of the agricultural deity, Inari. The information below, showing the continental and international connections, is edited and abridged from a recent item posted … Read the rest
Category: Folklore (Page 5 of 6)
Folk Shinto has much to commend it. It is free of dogma, morality and hierarchy. It fosters a form of spirituality based on nature and ancestral spirits. It is open to anyone with a sense of tradition and the … Read the rest
There is a long article on a website entitled Hemp Culture in Japan by David Olsen, which covers the plant’s many connections with traditional culture. Though the author is evidently not an expert on Shinto, he does make reference to … Read the rest
Mark Schumacher, compiler of the wonderful onmark A-Z Dictionary of Japanese religions, has produced an authoritative guide to the Seven Lucky Gods (Shichifukujin). This labour of love includes the following:
INTRO Page. Explores their development in art and … Read the rest
Japan has acquired an ugly reputation for its duplicitous, cruel and government-subsidised whale hunting, together with the subsequent feeding of contaminated meat to schoolchildren and others. Australia has currently taken it to the world court about the ludicrous claim to … Read the rest
By now most people have heard of the Ise celebrations this year for the completion of its 20 year shikinen sengu cycle of renewal. The buildings will have been reconstructed, the furnishings remade, and the long series of … Read the rest
Today is auspicious arrow day… A symbolic shooting of arrows in the air in the direction of the four quarters to ward off evil.
There’s a sacred archery festival (busha sai) at Fushimi Inari, which has a close connection … Read the rest