The plum blossom festival at Kitano Tenmangu is one of my favourites, partly because it heralds the coming of spring and partly because it is such a bustling affair with an antiques market and tea ceremony served by geisha. … Read the rest
Category: Shrine visits (Page 10 of 21)
At this time of year we look forward eagerly to the coming of plum blossom as a harbinger of spring. Plum immediately makes one think of Sugawara no Michizane, who is associated with the tree through poetry and legend. … Read the rest
More than most cities, Heian-kyo lay close to the spirit world. It’s as if its low-lying mists gave rise to a hidden world of unseen forces. People sought advice before embarking on journeys, and there was a six-day … Read the rest
On a research outing to north Kyoto the other day, I happened to pass Shiramine Jingu which I hadn’t visited for some years. In the meantime it has been building up its status as the home of football, with … Read the rest
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
Mindfulness of the changing seasons is part of Japanese culture, and it’s inherent in shrine visiting too. Today I took a walk through Yoahida Shrine here in Kyoto, where there was a belated Shichi-go-san ceremony going on against a … Read the rest
Recently on my visits to Kyoto shrines I’ve been to a shrine dedicated to a clan founder (Awata Jinja) and one to a Yamato leader who became a kami of pottery (Toki Jinja, aka Wakamiya Hachiman-gu). Now I’d like … Read the rest