The Japan News carried yesterday an article on shrine visits by Japanese females from its parent paper, The Yomiuri Shimbun. It’s about the popularity of young women visiting shrines ~ a phenomenon that anyone will be aware of who … Read the rest
Category: Shrine items (Page 9 of 13)
New Year is an important and symbolic time of revitalisation. Renewal is of the essence to Shinto, and here is a prime example. The last few days of the old year offer an opportunity to clean up and clear … Read the rest
New Year’s Japanese good luck charm, Hamaya
December 4, 2013 The Yomiuri Shimbun
With the arrival of December, attendants at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, are busy making New Year’s hamaya, or evil-repelling arrows. The lucky arrows … Read the rest
This is Part Two of an interview with Dean Brodrick, who ran a 1980s gagaku group in London. (For Part One, click here.)
4) What venues did you play at, and how was the reaction?
I think we played … Read the rest
1) A gagaku orchestra in 1980s Britain seems most unlikely. Can you tell us how that came about?
During the 1980s I was collaborating with musicians from diverse backgrounds, many of whom I had met through association with the LMC … Read the rest
One of the joys of writing this blog is the chance to interact with readers, some of whom are able to make personal contact when visiting Kyoto. One such person is Agnes Giard, whose research topic opens up new ways … Read the rest
Anyone familiar with Shinto will know about the significance of horses. They are thought to be intermediaries between this world and that of the kami. Votive tablets (ema, literally ‘horse pictures’) originated in the practice of offering … Read the rest