Autumn is here, and the festival season is in full swing. People associate this with harvests and nature worship, though many if not most of the festivals are nominally ancestral. That of Osake Jinja in Ako City (Hyogo Prefecture) is … Read the rest
Category: Japanese culture (Page 9 of 19)
Moon-viewing is an aesthetic custom in Japan with a spiritual component. For Buddhism, the full moon is a symbol of enlightenment, and the phases of the moon indicative of the ever-changing nature of life. Nothing is constant except change itself. … Read the rest
Self-build Shinto Shrine / Kikuma Watanabe
Photographs Courtesy of Kikuma Watanabe
From the architect:
This is the self-built temporary Shinto shrine in a depopulated village in the mountainous area of Kochi in Japan. For over 200 years the village used … Read the rest
In thinking about the complementary nature of Zen and Shinto, the thought struck me how Shinto is associated with the sun (Amaterasu) and Zen with the moon (enlightenment). This leads to some interesting comparisons in the way the two religions … Read the rest
One of the functions of the shaman in ancient societies was as guardian of the tribe’s identity. This often meant memorising great chunks of mythology and history. Keeping a record of the past not only tells you who you are, … Read the rest
On Sunday I took an out of town visitor to a combination of Tofuku-ji Zen temple and the popular Fushimi Inari shrine. They are both in the south-east of Kyoto, a mere twenty minutes walk apart, and the Zen-Shinto combination … Read the rest
May 5 is Children’s Day, a national holiday established in 1948 to promote their happiness and well-being. At this time of year in ancient times people suffered from disease during this season due to high temperature and humidity. The fragrance … Read the rest