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Shichi-go-san (7-5-3)

November 17, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Just a reminder to visit your local shrine today if you’d like to celebrate with others the rite of passage known as Schichi-go-san (7-5-3). Though the actual day is Nov. 15, it’s customary to visit the shrine on the weekends either side of that date.

For a full account of a family visit, see this page. http://www.tokyowithkids.com/entertainment/shichigosan.html For more about the history and development of the rite, click here.

A seven year old girl and a five year old boy celebrate in style. 3, 5 and 7 are lucky numbers in Taoist numerology.

Pagan Pasts 5): Syncretism

November 17, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Shinto torii leads to Buddhist gate in the Shingon temple-shrine complex on Shiraishi Island

This post is part of a series exploring the pagan pasts of Britain and Japan. One of the salient differences was the attitude of the continental axial religions (Buddhism and Christianity) to the earlier religious practice. In Japan the fusion of Buddhism and kami worship is known as syncretism, which emerged as the country’s mainstream form of spirituality. (For earlier parts of the series, click here or here.)

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The contrast with Britain

Snake water basin at Miwa Shrine in Nara Prefecture

Christianity was an exclusive monotheist religion, which held that there was only one truth. As a result Catholicism portrayed indigenous religions as evil and sought to suppress their practice. The conscious rejection of paganism is reflected in the Bible in the demonisation of the snake, or serpent. Since ancient times the creature had been a potent symbol of rebirth and revitilisation, because of the ability to slough off its skin, and it was worshipped in Japan as can still be seen at Miwa Shrine near Nara. In Christianity, however, it was made to represent the very essence of evil by tempting Eve in the book of Genesis to eat from the forbidden apple.

Yet at the same time Christianity sought to exploit the popularity of pagan customs by such strategies as building churches on sites associated with pagan spirituality. Glastonbury Tor is the most famous example, for the small hill had been revered as sacred since ancient times (one theory holds that it was the site of an esoteric maze leading to a higher plane), but in medieval times a church was built at the top of the hill and dedicated to the archangel St Michael.

The tower of St Michael's Church atop the pagan mount of Glastonbury Tor

Another example of the Christianisation of pagan sites is the conversion of holy springs, which were revered by ancients as outflows from Mother Earth. At Oxford there is a ‘treacle well’ in the village of Binsey, mentioned in Alice in Wonderland, which was thought in pagan times to have healing qualities but which in Catholic times was re-imagined as the site of a miracle by the city’s patron saint, Princess Frideswide. According to legend, she used water from the spring in an act of mercy to bathe the eyes of her assailant, who had been struck blind from on high while trying to rape her. (1)

Accommodation
By contrast with Christianity, Buddhism was more accommodating. From its very inception in India, the religion had embraced Hindu deities as unenlightened guardians of its doctrine. As Buddhism spread across Asia it followed a policy of accepting local gods in similar manner, and the integration of Bon animism into Tibetan Buddhism is an example. By the time the religion had travelled across South-east Asia and China, there was already a proven path of incorporating local belief. Japan was to prove no exception, and kami were accepted as tutelary spirits of place which played an important part in the communal life of the populace, particularly as regards rice cultivation. Buddhism on the other hand was concerned with metaphysical matters, such as liberation from the cycle of existence. As a result ‘this-worldly’ Shinto and ‘other-worldly’ Buddhism came to complement each other, and the two religions settled into a symbiotic existence which lasted right up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

Sogyo Hachiman (courtesy onmarkproductions.com)

The syncretic arrangement was already evident in 752 when the Great Buddha of Todai-ji was presented to the nation as being under the protection of the kami Hachiman, transported from Usa in Kyushu after an oracle there by a miko shamaness declared it was the wish of the deity. (It’s said to be the first use of a mikoshi.) The kami governed the spirit of place; the Big Buddha was in charge of cosmic matters. The respective size of the buildings reflected the significance of their deities in the greater scheme of things.

Kami-Buddha equivalence
Before long a theory known as honji suijaku (essence-trace) arose to formalise the arrangement between kami and Buddha. The term appears in documents for the first time in 825 in reference to the notion that while hotoke (Buddhas) are the true essence, kami represent their shadowy trace. In other words, there was a contrast between transcendent deities on the one hand and local avatars on the other.

Universal Buddhas were thus represented in Japan by particularist kami. Needless to say, this was a Buddhist theory in which kami were relegated to a supporting role. Indeed, they were ascribed a relatively low position in the Buddhist hierarchy, higher than humans but nonetheless in need of enlightenment. A notable example is Sogyo Hachiman, a kami portrayed in the guise of a Buddhist monk. Like his human counterparts, he was on the path to enlightenment.

In this way syncretism was given ideological justification which was unquestioned until the appearance of Yoshida Kanetomo (1435-1511), who tried to reverse the doctrine by asserting that kami were the true essence and the Buddhas their shadowy trace. Nonetheless, for over 1000 years Buddhist-led syncretism remained the mainstream in religious matters and the concept of something called ‘Shinto’ was virtually unknown. The worship of kami, together with all the attendant rites and festivals, was largely carried out under the Buddhist umbrella. Indeed the two traditions were so integrated that they were treated as a uniform whole. When the Tendai warrior-monks of Mt Hiei descended on Kyoto, they carried with them a mikoshi bearing the mountain kami Sanno, and when people were in extremity they called on all the kami and buddhas for help, regardless of the provenance of the deities.

Purification the Japanese way, mixing both Shinto and Buddhist elements with its lotus flower water basin

^{^[1]} For a full account of the Frideswide legend, see John Dougill Oxford in English Literature Uni. of Michigan, 1998, p. 13

Imperial cremation

November 16, 2013 / John D. / 1 Comment

The burial mound of Emperor Meiji at Fushimi-Momoyama in Kyoto

Here in Kyoto we’re surrounded by imperial burial mounds stretching back to the foundation of the city. It’s of interest therefore that the present emperor has specified that he wishes to be cremated instead. In the article below, taken from The Japan News, there are fascinating facts about the history of burial and cremation in Japan which include some startling statistics. The preference for cremation, for example, has leapt from around 30% in the early twentieth century to an astonishing 99.96% today! Even in death, it seems, the Japanese have a preference for social harmony.

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Emperor’s wish for cremation revived

Japan News November 15, 2013
Masayuki Ota and Yuri Ishihama/ Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Years of deliberation by the Emperor and Empress on how to balance a modern Imperial family with respect for centuries of tradition led to their decision to be cremated, which would make the Emperor the first monarch to be cremated in 400 years, according to the Imperial Household Agency.

Their ashes will be preserved in mausoleums to be built side by side at the Musashi Imperial Mausolea Grounds in Hachioji, Tokyo, the agency said in a review of the Imperial couple’s plans for their funeral services and mausoleums.

Announced Thursday, the review includes a policy to minimize the impact of their arrangements on people’s daily lives, a final touch to the Emperor and Empress’ efforts to sculpt an Imperial family that suits the Heisei period and walks in step with the nation’s people.

“In today’s society, 99.96 percent of people are cremated. There are also previous cases of cremation in the Imperial family history,” agency Grand Steward Noriyuki Kazaoka said at a press conference on the day.

The Hashihaka burial mound near Sakurai in Nara Prefecture, said by some experts to be that of legendary third-century Empress Himiko

He explained that three basic policies were taken into consideration. First, any plans should be appropriate for the position of the Emperor, who is a symbol of the state, and the Empress. Second, they should take into consideration changes in society and people’s feelings while also referring to Imperial family tradition and precedents, such as the Taiso no Rei funeral service of the Emperor Showa in 1989. Third, they should keep the size of the mausoleums and ceremonies to a minimum.

According to statistics of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and others, 69 percent of people who died in 1913 were buried, compared to 43 percent in 1955. Since then, the number of cremations has sharply increased.

Emperor Jito became the first emperor to be cremated in 703, according to the agency. After a period when both cremations and burials took place, cremations became the norm in the mid-Muromachi period (1336-1573). The burial of Emperor Gokomyo about 360 years ago marked a return to interment.

In 1926, an ordinance concerning the Imperial family’s funeral services was established on the assumption that emperors and other Imperial family members would be buried, but it was abolished after the end of World War II.

The burial mound of Kyoto's founder, Emperor Kammu, at Fushimi, 15 minutes walk from Kyoto's Tambabashi Station (Keihan or Kintetsu)

With the exception of the then emperor and empress, all six Imperial family members who have died since 1953, beginning with Prince Chichibu, were cremated in accordance with their wishes. Empress Teimei, the wife of Emperor Taisho, was buried in keeping with the abolished ordinance, as were Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun.

The agency made the final decision on the cremation, taking into consideration such factors as the fact that 41 emperors have been cremated in the past. It also took into account the fact that the Imperial households have traditionally respected the wishes of the Emperor and other members of the Imperial family, and that cremation is the most common practice in today’s society.

Two graves, one site

The Emperor and Empress will have separate mausoleums, but they will be built side by side on the same premises at the Imperial graveyard in Hachioji. The review also reflects the Imperial couple’s wish to minimize the impact of their deaths on the people’s daily lives.

Their mausoleums will be about 80 percent the size of those of Emperor Showa and his wife Empress Kojun. Though the total construction cost was not revealed, it is expected to be less than ¥4.4 billion, the total cost for the mausoleums for Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun.

The size was reduced based on the Emperor and Empress concern that there would be no space to build other mausoleums in the future, given the size and layout of the Musashi Imperial Mausolea Grounds.

They reportedly wish for themselves and the next generation of successors to be able to rest near Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun by reducing the size of their mausoleums and shifting the layout.

The Emperor and Empress have been seeking to create an Imperial family in step with modern times while also respecting traditions such as Imperial court rites. They have, for example, done away with the Menoto system of using nannies to raise royal children, instead keeping their three children close to them.

The agency said in its announcement that the thoughts and positions of the Emperor and Empress, who live in the Heisei period and are moving through it with the nation’s people, will be accurately conveyed to coming generations.

Daisen mound, also known as Nintoku's tomb. It's the largest burial mound in Japan, at Sakai near Osaka. It's one of the three largest burial tombs in the world and the largest in terms of ground area. (The Great Pyramid is the largest by volume.)

Shichi-go-san (7-5-3)

November 14, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

This weekend is a good time to spot children at shrines all dolled up in kimono, for it’s the time of year to celebrate seven- , five- and three-year olds. It’s a rite of passage from ancient China that marks a stage of maturation for children and is a delightful life-affirming event, one of Shinto’s prime events. The explanation below by Yumiyama Tatsuya is taken from the Shinto encyclopedia produced by Kokugakuin University.

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Rite of passage for the Shcihigosan

Generally, on November 15th boys aged three and five and girls aged three and seven are dressed in their best clothes and taken on a pilgrimage to their ujigami (clan or tutelary kami) to express gratitude and pray for their continued health and safety. Sometimes formal banquets are also held for this occasion.

In ancient times, both boys and girls would be shorn of their hair until they turned three, when a formal ceremony would be held after which they were allowed to grow it out. There was also a ritual for five-year-old boys in which they would put on a hakama for the first time. For seven-year-old girls there was the ritual of replacing the narrow belt of a child’s kimono with the much wider obi.

The particulars such as which sex does what at what age and the name for those celebrations varied based on region, era, and a child’s social standing, but generally we can say that these age-based rituals were conducted to pray for and celebrate children’s maturation from the precarious stage of infancy into the more stable stage of childhood. Shichigosan refers collectively to the performance of such rituals.

Although the date on which it is celebrated — the fifteenth of the eleventh month or November 15th — was already considered to be an auspicious day, shichigosan became specifically associated with it when the fifth Tokugawa shōgun, Tsunayoshi, conducted rites for his child Tokumatsu on this day. It came to be conducted in grander fashion from the Taishō era [early twentieth century], and these practices grew in elegance as they spread across the nation.

In Tokyo, many pilgrims visit Meiji Jingū and other famous shrines at the time of shichigosan. Also, the selling of chitoseame (“thousand-year candy”) as a souvenir of shichigosan, a practice that began at the shrine Kanda Jinja, in Asakusa, and other Tokyo sites, is said to have become widespread.

Japan's love of cuteness doesn't get any cuter

Pagan pasts 4: Axial religions

November 13, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

This is part 4 in a series comparing the pagan pasts of Britain and Japan…

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Britain’s path from paganism to Christianity
In the fifth century when Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded England following the withdrawal of the Romans, Celtic culture was pushed to the margins of the island as a new variant of Paganism was introduced from the continent. The independent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms worshipped Germanic deities such as Tiw, Woden, Thunor and Frig after whom Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are named. They also worshipped the spring goddess Eostre, from whom Easter takes its name. Like the Celts, these early Anglo-Saxons were animists who held sacred rites in the woods and made offerings to the spirit of trees, springs, and rocks.

In the ninth century a new type of invader arrived in the form of Vikings, whose incursions led to conquest, pillage and settlement, particularly in the north-east of the country. Since they were continental neighbours, Vikings and Saxons could understand each other’s language, and they worshipped the same kind of Germanic deities. Thor, for instance, was popular with both, being a sky and storm god who held a hammer which sparked lightning when thrown at enemies (hammers were worn by followers as a lucky charm).

[Rune alphabet as shown in William Dwight Whitney’s The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: An encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language (New York: The Century Co., 1889)

Another common feature was the use of runic letters in spells and divination. The belief that runes held a secret power was paralleled in Japan by the sound-magic of kotodama: in both cases the spiritually-charged words served as intermediary between humans and gods.

Christianity had come to Saxon England in 597 in the person of Augustine of Canterbury, whose conversion of King Aethelbert of Kent established a close alliance with the ruling class. A key role in the spread of the new religion was played by Alfred the Great (849-899), so-called because of his victories over the Viking invaders. Following defeat in 878, the Danish leader Guthrum converted to Christianity and thereby established countrywide domination for the religion. Alfred for his part placed emphasis on the education of priests and laymen to spread Christianity to the common folk. From pagan warrior-chiefs, Saxon leaders became Christian kings crowned with the authority of the Catholic church. Moreover, as England moved towards a unified kingdom under Saxon and Danish kings, bishops of the church acted as advisers in state matters.

The position of Christianity was strengthened after the Norman Conquest of 1066, for William I looked to the Catholic Church for support and had himself crowned in Westminster Abbey. For commentators such as Hilaire Belloc, the Conquest marked the entry of the country into ‘Christendom’, or the wider community of Christian civilisation.

Detail from Salisbury Cathedral: the Norman Conquest brought European arts and architecture, based on Christianity, to England

Japan’s path from kami worship to Buddhism
In Japan, Buddhism prospered in similar manner to Christianity to England as a result of promotion from on high. As we have seen, it was first brought to Japan in the mid-6th century as a gift to the Yamato court, and the new religion was immediately adopted by the powerful Soga clan (immigrants from the continent).

The Big Buddha at Todai-ji dominated the spiritual landscape

There was strong resistance however from supporters of the native kami, namely the Mononobe and Nakatomi clans, and the two sides clashed at the battle of Shigisan in 587. The Soga emerged victorious, and in the country’s first constitution, proclaimed in 604 by the prince regent, Shotoku Taishi (a Soga blood relative), Buddhism was adopted as the official state religion. ‘Sincerely revere the three treasures: the Buddha, his Teaching, and the ordained Community,’ runs one of the Seventeen Articles. Traditional beliefs and practices continued to survive among the common folk, however.

Almost 150 years after Shotoku’s Constitution, Emperor Shomu erected a huge Buddha at Nara (the world’s largest bronze statue), which was intended to be the centrepiece in a nationwide network of temples to secure the well-being of the state. The Daibutsu (Big Buddha) dominated the religious landscape of the country, though it was some time before the imported faith spread amongst the population at large. Yet when the Great Buddha was presented to the public in 752 it stood under the protection of the kami Hachiman, transported from Usa in Kyushu after an oracle there by a miko shamaness declared it was the wish of the deity. The kami was thus seen as governing the spirit of place; the Buddha took charge of cosmic matters.

Here was a crucial difference from the situation of Christianity in England, where pagan deities were not acknowledged. In the next section we will look at the development of syncretism in Japan.

The present-day Hachiman shrine still protects the Big Buddha at Todai-ji

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This is the fourth in a series comparing the pagan past of Britain and Japan. Click for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Shinto events in Europe

November 9, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Paul de Leeuw in the Holland Yamakage Shinto shrine

Invitations are extended by the Shinto Foundation Europe, based in Amsterdam, to anyone interested in attending three events held this autumn and winter. The Foundation features Paul de Leeuw, the first ever non-Japanese Shinto priest in Europe and probably the world. ( Click here or here for more information.)

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Invitation Autumn Ceremony

Autumn harvest ceremony at the Holland Yamakage Shinto shrine.

In autumn we feel gratitude for abundant harvest. You are kindly invited to attend the Autumn Ceremony on Sunday November 24th
Program:
14:30 Registration of guests
15:00 Ceremony
16:00 Naorai (toast with sake and snacks)
17:00 End

The ceremony is a thanks-giving ritual to be in harmony with the new season.
Autumn is the season of harvest and the aim of the ceremony is to give thanks for the first fruits of the year.
The original name for this ceremony is” niiname sai”, in order to express gratitude for the first rice.
In ancient Shinto (or “ko-shinto”) this is the most important ceremony of the year.

RSVP before November 18th office@shinto.nl After this day you will receive a confirmation.

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All dressed up for Shichi-go-san

Shichi-go-san

Children (3, 5 or 7 years old) may attend this important Japanese tradition in the Holland Yamakage Shinto Shrine in Amsterdam.

Schedule:
Saturday and Sunday November 9 & 10; November 16 & 17
between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM

Duration of ceremony: 20 minutes.
Costs: 50 euro.

Call or email us for information and/or reservation.

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Hatsumode at the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam

Oshogatsu – hatsumode

New Year Ceremony 2014 January 1st

On New Year’s Day we will celebrate the traditional New Year’s ceremony (Hatsumode) in Hotel Okura. We will perform special ceremonies for the guests of Hotel Okura: happiness for family, yakudoshi harai and even shichi-go-san for those who have missed the event in November.

Here you will find more information about the Oshogatsu package in Hotel Okura.

On New Year’s Day you are welcome to pay a visit to this temporary shrine and pray for happiness (and perhaps combine it with a kaiseki lunch in Yamazato restaurant).

At 4:00 PM we will perform the Grand Ceremony. You will receive your personal invitation in December.

Pagan pasts 3: The Celts

November 8, 2013 / John D. / 1 Comment

This is the third in an ongoing series comparing the pagan pasts and present of Britain and Japan…. For the previous two episodes please click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. Part 1 compared the two countries in historical times, while Part 2 focussed on Yayoi Japan. Now we look at the British equivalent to the Yayoi influx of immigrants – the arrival of the Celts in the British Isles around 500 BC.

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Like their Japanese counterparts, the Celts were good farmers, pottery-makers and weavers. Rather than rice, they grew wheat and barley, with a livestock of sheep, goats and pigs. They lived for the most part in scattered farming communities or hill forts surrounded by an earthen bank with wooden fencing and a ditch to keep out intruders.

Model of a Celtic hut at Glastonbury Lake Village

When the Romans arrived around the turn of the millennium, they found a land of Druidism with a study centre on the island of Anglesey. As in Japan, there were clans with their own ancestral gods, whose wish was interpreted by shamanic leaders. Shrines were built next to streams, which were regarded with reverence for their life-giving qualities and seen as a gift from Mother Earth. Animals were sacrificed to harness their power (in Japan horses were presented to the kami). Rituals were held to promote and give thanks for farm produce, in similar manner to the role of rice in Japanese rites.

Ancient Briton had its equivalents too to the three sacred regalia of Japan – the bronze mirror, sword and magatama beads which were handed down by Amaterasu to her grandson Ninigi no mikoto to take to earth. (According to tradition they still exist: the mirror at Ise, the sword in Atsuta Shrine and the magatama in the imperial palace.)

In Briton, highly polished and decorated bronze mirrors were valued for their spiritual power. Swords were regarded as symbols of the warrior to whom they belonged, as if the human spirit had entered into the weapon, and they were ritually buried with their owner. The role of Excalibur in the Arthurian legends clearly owes itself to such beliefs.

Artist's impression of Celtic life in the Glastonbury Lake Village (300BC - c.100AD)

Offerings to deities were made in both cultures by throwing objects of value into ponds and wells, considered to be openings into the otherworld (the practice is the origin of modern day wishing wells). In Britain cups, shields, swords, mirrors and other precious items have been retrieved by archaeologists from watery depths; in Japan too mirrors and other goods have been retrieved from sacred ponds.

The practice was incorporated into Arthurian legend in the famous passage where Bedivere returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. (Anthropologist C. Scott Littleton maintains that the King Arthur story shares common roots with the Yamato Takeru legend in Japanese myth, especially the use of magic swords and death by an enemy after giving up the sword to a female figure. Littleton presumes a common origin for the stories in north-east Iran.)^{^[1]}

As in Japan, the religious practice of the Celts followed an animistic religion in which outdoor worship was performed in temporary structures. People worshipped spirits of nature, often in wooded groves or beside streams and springs. Rituals were carried out by priests called Druids (the name derives from the Celtic word for oak, a sacred tree). The priests wore white robes, as in Japan symbolic of purity, and the training could take up to twenty years. Practitioners were expected to be conversant in law, learning and customs, while bards provided song-poems of epic deeds.

Seasonal festivities were based around the farming lifestyle, which because of animal husbandry had more of a year-round feel than the spring-autumn rites of rice cultivation. The four great Celtic festivals comprised Samhain in autumn, when animals were slaughtered before the onset of winter; Imbolc in early spring, which heralded the time of lambing; Beltane in May, when cattle were sent out to graze between lighted fires; and Lungnasad in late summer, which was held as the crops ripened.

^{^[1]} Littleton, C.S. ‘Yamato-takeru: An “Arthurian” Hero in Japanese Tradition’ Asian Folklore Studies Nanzan University Vol. 54, No. 2 (1995), pp. 259-274