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Imperial hero (Kiyomaro at Go-o Jinja)

November 5, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Wake no Kiyomaro (733-799) at Go-o Jinja in Kyoto, still guarding the Yamato legacy

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 to look at Go-o Jinja (or Goh Jinja), next to the Former Imperial Palace. All three shrines celebrate the spirits of dead people, emphasising just how much Shinto, within Japan at least, is more ancestral than animist.

Goh Shrine enshrines the spirit of Wake no Kiyomaro (733-799), a government official in the 7th Century. Amazingly, he’s got his own Facebook page, where one learns that his birthplace of Wake was in Okayama Prefecture and that he hailed from a family of influential Buddhists. He became a close advisor of Emperor Kammu, and some even credit him with the decision to relocate the capital from Nagaoka-kyo to Heian-kyo (present day Kyoto).

Entrance to the shrine from the east, facing Gosho (the Former Imperial Palace)

However, Kiyomaro’s enshrinement owes itself to the notorious Dokyo Incident in 759, involving ‘the Japanese Rasputin’. Dokyo was a Buddhist priest much favoured by Empress Koken (later Empress Shotoku), whom he cured of illness. Such was Dokyo’s hold over her that he harboured political ambitions of his own and somehow contrived for the female oracle at the prestigious Usa Hachiman Shrine to proclaim that he should be the next emperor. You can imagine the consternation at court! He was, after all, a commoner and not even a member of the imperial family. What exactly was his relationship with the empress?

The trusty Wake no Kiyomaro was sent to Usa to check whether the oracle could possibly be genuine, and he returned with the desired answer – a second oracle proclaimed that only descendants of Amaterasu could become Emperor. The first one was clearly mistaken. According to Facebook/Wikipedia, “This report angered Dōkyō, who used his influence with the Empress to have an edict issued sending Kiyomaro into exile; he also had the sinews of Kiyomaro’s legs cut, and only the protection of the Fujiwara clan saved him from being killed outright.”

The shrine gives a slightly different version, however, namely that on the way into exile he was ambushed by Dokyo’s men and wounded in the leg. Moreover, some 300 wild boar appeared out of nowhere and helped him get 40 kilometers away from Usa Hachiman, where his leg was miraculously healed. The boar is consequently Kiyomaro’s tsukai (familiar/servant), and as a kami he is venerated for recovery from illness, safe journeys and a life free of mishaps. The shrine is particularly associated with the health of legs (see here for an example.)

A boar water basin, in tribute to the animal that rescued Kiyomaro when he was injured

With the death of Empress Shotoku, Dokyo fell out of favour and Kiyomaro was recalled. One of his first actions was to instigate investigation of the Usa oracles. Two were found to be fraudulent, and the authorities responsible sacked. And what of Dokyo? He was placed under house arrest, then banished from court to Tochigi prefecture, at a time when having to live in the provinces away from the glittering centre was considered akin to solitary confinement.

The lessons learnt by the court were to have no more empresses and to move away from the overbearing influence of the Buddhists in Nara. in 794, when Emperor Kammu founded Kyoto, he only allowed two temples, To-ji (East Temple) and Sai-ji (West Temple), located away from the court near the city’s entrance gate of Rashomon.

So Wake no Kiyomaro at great personal danger saved the world’s longest-living ruling dynasty when it was but in its infancy. No wonder he’s an imperial hero, who was rewarded with posthumous glory after the emperor was restored to power in 1868. His shrine was relocated from Jingo-ji to be beside the Former Imperial Palace and he was honoured with his portrait on the 10-yen note. For loyalists, in a very real sense his spirit lives on…

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For some stunning photos of Goh Shrine, see Ojisan Jake’s page.

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A collection of prayer sticks around a boar's head rock

The shrine is particularly popular in the year of the boar (next one in 2019)

Achi Shrine (Kurashiki)

November 4, 2013 / John D. / 2 Comments

The Worship Hall at Achi Shrine with an Izumo-style shimenawa rope

The town of Kurashiki which lies west of Okinawa city on the way to the Inland Sea, boasts a very attractive historical area. The well-preserved buildings host a variety of craft shops, cafes and galleries centred around a small canal and a former cloth factory built in the English style with brick and rounded windows.

Typical example of the conservation area architecture in Kurashiki

On the hill overlooking the historical area is Achi Shrine, which dates back to the time of the legendary Emperor Ojin according to Nihon Shoki (720). In 1990 the shrine celebrated its 1700th anniversary. In other words, it’s ancient and the origins lost in the mists of time.

The shrine’s origins lay with the Achi clan who settled in the area and were immigrants from the continent. The main deities worshipped are the Munekata Sisters, who were the daughters of Susanoo and had strong links with Kyushu. Perhaps the Achi clan adopted them while stopping off on their migration from Korea along the Inland Sea.

Among the interesting features in the shrine’s grounds is an iwasaka group of sacred rocks. These are supposed to be the origins of the shrine, and speak of Korean shamanistic roots. The shrine pamphlet ascribes them a yin~yang presence and suggests they speak to the Chinese legendary paradise of Horai.

Elsewhere there’s an unusual mikuji (fortune slip) arrangement centred around a mokkoku tree and split into the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. A notice board says the tree is the longest-living in the shrine grounds and associated with making good relationships. You thereby get good luck plus Chinese zodiac fortune.

Daruma at the Sugawara no Michizane subshrine

The shrine lists 21 kami in its pamphlet, including all the subshrines in the grounds. One of them is for Tenjin (ancestral spirit of Sugawara no Michizane), the kami for learning, and his subshrine was filled in syncretic fashion with small Daruma dolls (honouring Bodhidharma, founder of Zen). The idea is that you paint in one eye when making a vow, and the other eye when succeeding. All of them had two eyes, I noticed; what happens to those who fail?

The Honden is presently under repair, but from the hill are god views over Kurashiki – the reason of course the site was chosen in the first place. One of the words for shrine is miya, the same word used formerly for palaces and the residences of august princes. Perhaps here on the hill was once the palace of an Achi leader, made into a shrine after his death to honour his memory. At any rate it’s a typical example of the ujigami (clan kami) shrine, and it exemplifies the role of ancestor worship in Shinto. Like Native American tribes, honouring one’s predecessors is an important part of cultural identity.

The iwasaka rocks at Achi Jinja speak to the ancient rock worship of an immigrant clan

Unusual arrangement for tying one's fortune slips according to the Chinese zodiac year of one's birth

The Honden kami sanctuary in Izumo-style architecture

The shrine boasts a Noh stage, showing its cultural inclinations (it's used for kagura dance performances for the kami)

Dogs and cats are strictly forbidden from being brought into the compound, no doubt for their polluting potential. It seemed indicative of the ancestral orientation of the shrine rather than nature worship.

Pottery Shrine

November 2, 2013 / John D. / 2 Comments

The front entrance of Wakamiya Hachiman-gu, aka Toki Jinja (Pottery Shrine), near Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto. A guardian deity of pottery, and now sadly of cars it seems...

On a recent visit to Kiyomizu Temple here in Kyoto, I happened to come across Wakamiya Hachiman-gu, which also calls itself the Pottery Shrine. It’s on Gojo street, at the bottom of the slope leading up to the temple, and the area has long been associated with Kiyomizu pottery. Given its fame, I imagined the shrine would be something special, but sadly it had clearly seen better days.

Two young women on their way to Kiyomizu Temple. According to the official prefectural website, it's a popular place to pray for an easy delivery as well as for good pottery.

Kiyomizu pottery once had a high reputation but has been on a steady decline over the past century. The shrine seems to have suffered with it. The courtyard was given over to a car park, the shrine office was shut, the buildings looked shabby, and at the back was an overgrown garden.

It’s said the shrine originated in 1053 with Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, one of the Genji warriors. it was located near Nishi Honganji and patronised by the Genji clan, later by the Ashikaga shoguns. But the shrine was wiped out in the Onin civil wars (1467-77), then forced into temporary locations before being finally reconstructed on the present site in 1654.

As you’d expect with a Hachiman shrine, the main deity is legendary Emperor Ojin and his putative parents, Emperor Chuai and Empress Jingu. Only in 1949, relatively recently, was the pottery kami Shiinetsu hiko no mikoto installed. (The kami appears to be an ancestral member of the Yamato clan.)

The shrine has a festival every summer to coincide with the Kiyomizu pottery event from Aug 7-10. Its most striking physical feature is a modern full length mirror in which to check the purity of one’s heart and soul. Set right before the Haiden, it is stark in design with none of the traditional elegance of Japanese pottery. Sad days for Shiinetsu hiko, it seems…

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For a useful article about Kiyomizu ceramics, see http://www.kyotoguide.com/ver2/thismonth/kiyomizu-ceramics.html

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Neglected and unused at the back of the shrine is a garden waiting for a touch of water and a caring hand to be restored to its former glory

The rather startling mirror that stands in front of the Haiden worship hall.

A hungry frog on one of the subshrines in the compound has clearly not been fed for some time

A clumsy attempt at attracting some 'enmusubi' custom to the shrine

Meanwhile, the ox at the Tenmangu subshrine was happilly basking in the sunshine

Questioning Shinto (Kuroda Toshio)

November 1, 2013 / John D. / 1 Comment

What exactly is Shinto? It’s a vexing and intriguing question. Ancient animism which has survived to the present day? An ancestral and tribal religion, which celebrates Japaneseness? An indigenous religion with roots in Yayoi times, or a manipulative system to legitimise the Yamato emperor?

Questions like these underpin a striking introduction by Mark Teeuwen and Bernard Scheid, editors of ‘Tracing Shinto in the History of Kami Worship’ in the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 2002 29/3-4. Quote follows:

There is a fundamental uncertainty about central questions relating to Shinto. Is it a relic of ancient nature worship, surviving by some miracle into the modern age? An amorphous repository for Japan’s metahistorical cultural subconscious, impenetrable for foreigners? Or is it an outdated invented tradition, cynically created by the Meiji government to aid the building of the Japanese nation state? Even if we limit our view to contemporary society, how is it that most Japanese are involved in some form of shrine practice (at least in the form of hatsumode (New Year’s visit to a shrine), while at the same time “Shinto” seems to mean nothing to them?

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Kuroda Toshio (1926-93)

Much of the modern scholarship questioning Shinto has been influenced by the work of Kuroda Toshio (1926-1993), a noted scholar of religious history. The following passage is taken from the above journal and gives an account of Kuroda’s work, which can also be found summarised on this Wikipedia page dedicated to him. (‘Kenmitsu Buddhism is a term referring to all types of Buddhism, whether exoteric or esoteric.)

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Kuroda introduces his argument by focusing on the history of the term itself. He states that until at least the Kamakura period, the word Shinto was used not to refer to a “popular religion” by that name, but more or less as a synonym for kami. Moreover, he points out that during the later Heian and Kamakura periods, the worship of these kami functioned as a well-integrated constituent of kenmitsu Buddhism, the orthodox system of exoteric and esoteric Buddhist schools that dominated religious practice throughout the premodern period.

The so-called temple-shrine complexes, where kami and buddhas were worshiped side by side, were paradigmatic for the religion of that time. In Kuroda’s view, the religious thinking that gave rise to these institutions was not a compromise or a mixture between two opposing religions, but a well-integrated system of religious thought and practice applied to a range of different deities.

Within this system, groups specializing in kami worship existed alongside a number of more mainstream Buddhist factions. While these groups concentrated on certain Japanese kami, they did not question the Buddhist framework within which these kami were to be understood and worshiped. It was among such groups that self-professed forms of Shinto emerged towards the end of the medieval period.

Water basin for washing hands with the Buddhist symbol of lotus blossom, indicative of Buddhism's dominance of kami worship over the centuries

In the early-modern period, this newly invented Shinto tradition gained particular favor among anti-Buddhist Confucian scholars, while at the same time, popular kami practice remained subsumed within Buddhism. By and large, it was not before the Meiji period that the notion of a non-Buddhist Shinto religion gained general acceptance, and was implemented m practice. It was largely due to repressive Restoration politics that “Shinto achieved for the first time the status of an independent religion, distorted though it was” (Kuroda 1981,p.19). By gaining independence from Buddhism, however, Shinto was cut off from high-level religious philosophy, and as a result it “declined to the state of a religion that disavowed being a religion” (Kuroda 1981,p.19).

In this way Kuroda denies the existence of Shinto as a religious system, in effect during any period of Japanese history, and exposes the notion of Shinto as Japan’s unbroken indigenous religion as a theological fabrication. At this point it is essential to specify that Kuroda does not, of course, maintain that kami cults or shrine worship are recent inventions. Far from denying the prominence of kami and shrines, Kuroda ascribes to them a central role within the hegemonic kenmitsu system, as a way to localize Buddhist power in the Japanese territory and state (Kuroda 1996, pp. 374-75).

What Kuroda rejects is the existence of Shinto as an autonomous system parallel to kenmitsu Buddhism. If we employ the term Shinto in a way that is consistent with the sources, Shinto history began in the fourteenth century. If we define the term analytically, it can be argued that the nationwide system of ritual offerings to kami, instituted as part of the Ritsuryo system and epitomized in the Engi shiki (“Procedures of the Engi Era”, 927), was a benchmark in the history of Shinto.

Syncretic kami worship remains the norm in many places, here exemplified in a Shingon Buddhist temple on Shiraisihi Island in the Inland Sea, which houses a shrine within its grounds

Samhain autumn rites

October 31, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Huffington Post carries an article today in celebration of Samhain…

Autumn has arrived, and with it comes the advent of Samhain, a Gaelic holiday celebrated by Pagans and Wiccans, which is the year’s third and final harvest festival. Brush up on your Samhain knowledge with our 10 facts to know.

1. Samhain is celebrated from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1, almost halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.

2. Some modern Pagans consider it the “witch’s new year,” though other traditions simply recognize Samhain as the end of the year, says Kelley Harrell, the author of ‘Gift of the Dreamtime.’

3. Rituals surrounding Samhain include bonfires, healing, dancing, thanksgiving, and honoring of the dead.

Pagan honoring of the four directions, or the four seasons

4. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh.

5. It’s considered a liminal time, when the veil between life and death grows thin. Food is set aside for ancestors and protective spirits, and rituals honoring the dead take place.

6. Samhain is pronounced “sah-win” or “sow-in.”

7. Samhain is one of the original festivals behind the holiday we know as Halloween.

8. As it was believed that faeries, witches, and demons roamed the earth on Samhain, food and drink were customarily set out to placate them. Later on, people began dressing up as these creatures and claiming the goodies for themselves, sometimes performing antics or tricks in exchange for food and drink. This practice evolved into trick-or-treating.

9. Some of Halloween’s most common traditions are rooted in Samhain’s harvest festival roots, such as the carving of pumpkins and bobbing for apples.

10. Some celebrate Samhain with a ritual to guide the dead home by opening a western-facing door or window and placing a candle by the opening.

Portal to another world in an Okinawan cave

A touch of Halloween

October 28, 2013 / John D. / 3 Comments

Halloween parade in Kawasaki, largest of the Halloween festivities in Japan (REUTERS/Yuya Shino)

Today’s picture in Japan Today is of a Halloween parade with about 3,000 participants and over 100,000 spectators. Every year in Japan there’s noticeable increase in Halloween decorations, and now there’s more than I recall ever seeing in Britain.

It’s a fine example of the way Japanese adopt and adapt foreign ways and make them their own (foreign ways, but not foreign people!). Christmas has already become the well-established celebration of Kurisumasu, complete with Colonel Sanders chicken, romantic dinner parties and obligatory gift-giving. The religious element of course is missing – as it is by and large in the secular West.

Halloween is a strange one. ‘Happy Halloween’ is becoming a common slogan now in Japan, though what’s happy about it I’m not sure. But the festival does seem to fit in nicely with the seasonal calendar that the Japanese treasure, with pumpkins having something of a harvest festival feel. It’s also an occasion for ‘cosplay’, which draws on the rich traditions of kabuki, Noh masks and geisha etc. Moreover, there seems to be something in the Japanese psyche that is attracted to ghosts and the spirits of the dead. One thinks of Noh, Obon and ancestor worship, for instance.

Many of Japan’s ‘traditions’ have been drawn from China in ancient times. It seems we are witnessing history in progress as Halloween and other celebrations are being adopted from the West. At some point in the future I expect Halloween will be incorporated somehow into Shinto, and today while visiting a shrine in Okayama prefecture I came across the fruit below displayed at the shrine office, alongside all the Shinto goods for sale. Haha, I thought, it won’t be long before little pumpkin amulets are for sale too…..

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An article in Japan Today examines the phenomenon of Japanese Halloween, dating the recent boom back to theme parks and the year 2000. To read about it, click here.

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Quince displayed on the counter of the shrine office at Achi Jinja in Okayama

Misogi and cold water

October 24, 2013 / John D. / 2 Comments

Misogi at the summer solstice at the Meoto rocks near Ise

Misogi is a ritual form of cold water immersion, practised by some Shinto followers. As with many traditional practices, it turns out that modern science corroborates the benefits. That cold water is invigorating is obvious enough, but that it has many other practical health benefits is not so widely known.

Below is a report on the benefits of cold water showers by Todd Becker, a scientist who has been following medical research on the subject. For over six months he has been taking cold showers himself, and he writes about the experience below. (See http://gettingstronger.org/2010/03/cold-showers/)

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As one form of hydrotherapy, the health benefits of cold water therapy are numerous. Cold showers provide a gentle form of stress that leads to thermogenesis (internal generation of body heat), turning on the body’s adaptive repair systems to strengthen immunity, enhance pain and stress tolerance, and ward off depression, overcome chronic fatigue syndrome, stop hair loss, and stimulate anti-tumor responses.

Christian Grubl performs a misogi rie with a shugendo group

When you start with cold water, you will experience the phenomenon of cold shock, an involuntary response characterized by a sudden rapid breathing and increased heart rate. This in itself is very beneficial.

The extent of cold shock has been shown to decrease with habituation, and exposure to colder water (10C or 50F) appears to be more effective than just cool water (15 C or 59F) in promoting habituation. The habituation itself is what is most beneficial, both objectively and subjectively. There is an analogy here with high intensity resistance exercise and interval training, both of which elevate heart rate and lead to long term adaptations to stress, with improved cardiovascular capacity and athletic performance.

But cold showers provide a different and probably complementary type of habituation to that which results from exercise. A study of winter swimmers compared them with a control group in their physiological response to being immersed in cold water: Both groups responded to cold water by thermogenesis (internal production of body heat), but the winter swimmers did so by raising their core temperature and did not shiver until much later than the controls, whereas the control subjects responded by shivering to increase their peripheral temperatures.

Other studies confirm that the benefits of habituation show up only after several weeks of cold showering. For example, adaptation to cold leads to increased output of the beneficial “short term stress” hormones adrenaline and thyroxine, leading to mobilization of fatty acids, and substantial fat loss over a 1-2 week period.

So regular cold showers, like high intensity exercise, and intermittent fasting, appear to provide similar, but not identical benefits.

Waterfalls await cold water practitioners all over Japan

But now I’d like to focus on the subjective experience of taking cold showers, something not commented on in many of the studies I’ve read. If you follow my approach and plunge right into a cold shower, you’ll get the initial “cold shock” mentioned above: a quickened pace of breathing and a pumping heart.

Often I find myself involuntarily smiling or even laughing. For waking up, this beats caffeine. I keep the water cold the whole time. It helps to brace yourself when entering by gritting your teeth and stiffening your muscles. Go in head first and alternate from back to front to make sure you are getting cold all over, including your hands and arms and any sensitive zones.

After about a minute, you’ll find the cold water starts to become more tolerable, and after 2 or 3 minutes you’ll feel your body getting warm by its own efforts. This is thermogenesis. I make a point of staying in the shower until I’m no longer uncomfortable. I found that at first my hands were the most sensitive part, and now they are no longer as sensitive, so they have habituated.

When I started taking cold showers, I measured the water temperature at around 60 F (16 C), but over time I have reduced this somewhat to 50-55 F (10-13C) as my body has adapted. (You can determine this by bringing into the shower a plastic cup and meat or candy thermometer and collecting some water once the temperature equilibrates). Of course, depending on where you live and the season, there is a lower limit to how cold you can go, but in general you should be able to get at least as cold as 60F in most places.

Also, my cold showers used to be very short, maybe 4 or 5 minutes, but now they last as long as my previous warm showers, perhaps 10 minutes. I still take the occasional warm shower, perhaps once every week or so, but I prefer the cold ones.

I find that cold showers are great for the mood. Not only are they physically invigorating, they make you feel alive, vital and ready to take on the day. They stimulate thinking early in the morning. I also believe that they have the effect of slightly raising blood glucose very quickly — by perhaps 10 mg/dl, and thereby have an appetite suppressing effect. Generally, this rise in blood glucose is relatively short in duration, but that’s good enough to prime the pump and get the day started.

These effects are apparent with the first cold shower. If you continue the practice for several weeks, you’ll find the psychological benefits are even greater. First and foremost, cold showers appear to have improved my stress tolerance, by buffering emotional reactions. What I mean by this is that bad news, surprises, arguments, or events that would have previously caused a brief surge in adrenaline or an emotional flush, no longer have that effect, or at most have a very attenuated effect. I think this is a consequence of becoming acclimated to the the adrenaline-producing effect of the cold shock.

You can experiment with the intensity of cold, the duration, and the frequency of cold showers to improve your tolerance at a tolerable rate. If you find that your heart is beating uncomfortably fast or you are going numb or experiencing pain of any sort, that’s a good reason to ease into the routine more slowly with water that is not so cold. Check with your doctor first if you have a heart condition, migraines, or pain. But don’t sell yourself short and rush through a cold shower, because you may find that extending a few more minutes provides the greatest benefits in adapting your body to tolerate stress. Not just cold stress — but physical and emotional stress in general.
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If you want to take cold showers to the next level, i.e. bathing in ice, check out this article.

Waiting anxiously for cold water immersion in the early morning hours