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Oomoto workshop

July 14, 2013 / John D. / 1 Comment

Praying in the grounds of Oomoto's main Ayabe shrine

The arts-oriented, universalist Oomoto Shinto sect will be running a programme in August aimed at foreigners interested in learning more about them. It is held at Kameoka and Ayabe, near Kyoto. and programme details are below. I’m told that a donation of something like $35 or more a day would be appropriate. If you would like to apply, or get further information, contact KATSUYA KIMURA <k-kimura@oomoto.or.jp>

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August 1st, 2013
Arriving at Oomoto in Kameoka
20:00　Opening Ceremony
Staying at the dormitory in Oomoto Kameoka Headquarters

Priests before a major ritual at Oomoto's Ayabe complex

August 2nd
06:00-06:30 Morning service at the shrine
08:30-09:00 Morning meeting for Oomoto staff (Introducing yourself)
09:00-0930 Tour of the Oomoto ground in Kameoka
10:00-11:30 Lecture (History of Oomoto)
13:30-15:00 Lecture (Activity of Oomoto)
17:10-17:40 Evening service
Staying at the dormitory in Oomoto Kameoka Headquarters

August 3rd
06:00-06:30 Morning service at the shrine
09:30-10:00 Chin-kon (Meditation)
10:00-10:30 Lecture (Esperanto Movement of Oomoto)
13:00-14:00 Esperanto lesson
14:30-15:30 Moving to Ayabe city
15:30-17:00 Tour of the Oomoto ground in Ayabe
17:10-17:40 Evening service
18:00-20:00 Welcome party
21:00 Staying at the dormitory in Oomoto Ayabe Headquarters

August 4th
06:00-06:30 Morning service at the shrine
09:00-09:30 Lecture(Oomoto Poem Festival)
09:30-10:30 Ro-ei (chanting a poem) lesson
13:00 Moving to Kyoto city and a sightseeing in Kyoto city
19:00 Coming back to Kameoka
Staying at the dormitory in Oomoto Kameoka Headquarters

August 5th
06:00-06:30 Morning service at the shrine
10:00-11:30 Lecture (Activity of Oomoto Part 2)
13:30-15:00 Lecture (Teaching of Oomoto)
17:10-17:40 Evening service at the shrine

August 6th
06:00-06:30 Morning service at the shrine
08:00-11:30 Visiting the Mount Takakuma in Kameoka
13:30-15:00 Lecture(Oomoto Miroku Dance)
18:00-19:30 Oomoto Poem Festival
19:30-21:00 Oomoto Miroku Dance

August 7th
06:00-06:30 Morning service at the shrine
10:00-12:00 Attending the Oomoto Summer Grand Festival in Kameoka
15:00-20:00 Visiting Kyoto-city

August 8th
Leaving Oomoto

The attractive water basin, part of Oomoto's aesthetic appeal

Offerings tastefully displayed

Shrines laid out around the pond garden, beauiifully integrated with nature

Running the Shikoku pilgrimage

July 12, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Amy Chavez strikes a pose on the pilgrimage trail (this and the photos below courtesy Chavez)

In the middle ages it was Kumano. In the Edo period it was Ise. Now it seems to be the 88 temples of Shikoku that are Japan’s prime pilgrimage destination.

Amy Chavez has recently published a book on running the pilgrimage. Yes, that’s right – running. Walking is too slow for her, and doing it the modern way by car or bus didn’t appeal as a spiritual exercise. Besides, she likes running, she declares.

Yet what follows is an account of a gruelling challenge to cover 1448 kilometers of mountainous terrain. There’s a constant struggle with protesting legs in what she calls ‘the daily trifecta of aches, swellings and blisters’. No pain, no gain goes the saying, and in her quest to further her spiritual side Amy learns to appreciate the rites and rituals of Shingon Buddhism through the hardships she endures.

The trail between temples

Like all good travel writing, the book is thus part-guide and part-personal odyssey as the author moves from temple to temple. Some are close together (close for a runner, that is!), while others are in isolated mountain settings. Throughout the book Amy maintains a breezy, well-judged narrative pace that allows one to accompany her progress without becoming breathless or bored.

‘Master of the light touch,’ comments Alex Kerr in an apposite phrase. The jocular asides and humorous comments are offset by serious points which include laying bare her own spiritual journey. It’s a delicate balance that could easily run off the rails – though it doesn’t.

As a Japan Times columnist, Amy has entertained readers for more than a decade now in a weekly column entitled Japan Lite. She’s written much about her life on a small island in the Inland Sea (population around 550), and the book too covers her reasons for deciding to settle there. It’s here that the underlying Shinto qualities of Japan’s traditional lifestyle become apparent.

Shingon is the nearest Buddhist sect there is to Shinto, and both share a similar attitude and reverence for nature (evident in mountain worship). There’s no Shinto priest on the island where Amy lives, yet Shinto rituals are dutifully carried out by the islanders. In their daily life the true nature of Japanese spirituality is apparent, as described by Amy in the passage below:

I worked in the city, and came home in the evenings to a quiet island life. The presence of the mountains and the sea restored my spirit. I was at ease with myself and my surroundings….

What came with island life was much more than I had ever imagined: traditional Japan. Shintoism, Buddhism and traditions Japanese city folk had long forgotten. The modern Japanese had fled to the cities and abandoned their culture in the countryside. Those left behind dutifully continued carrying out ancient rituals, prayers and festivals – the very things so much of Japanese culture is founded upon. Islanders awaken early to do neighborhood clean-ups, temple clean-ups, ritual sweeping. They plan annual events involving purification, good luck and prosperity. They pray to the gods, praise nature and honor their dead ancestors. This was community. This is virtue.

The island pulled me away from city life, begging me to discover the virtuous charms of the countryside, the charms of the real Japan, the charms of a Shinto background and a Buddhist soul.

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Amy Chavez’s book Running the Shikoku Pilgrimage: 900 Miles to Enlightenment is published by Volcano Press with a foreword by Barefoot Ted McDonald. It can be purchased here.

Not so much a trail as a trial; getting up and over this was a big part of Amy's challenge in running between temples 87 and 88

Gion 5): mikoshi arai

July 11, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Today was one of the important pre-events of the Gion Matsuri, when the mikoshi arai (purification of the kami’s palanquin) took place. Basically the mikoshi of Yasaka Shrine (aka Gion sha), which is the host shrine of the Gion Festival, is taken from the shrine down to Shijo Bridge where it is purified by water from the Kamogamo River.

This was the first time I’ve seen the event, and I guess there were some three to four hundred people thronging the bridge awaiting the arrival of the mikoshi. I’d heard it would arrive at 7.30 though it was more like 8.00 by the time it came. A small procession of men in white yukata led the mikoshi, and their chanting was just about drowned out by a phalanx of policemen yelling simultaneously at people to keep back because it was ‘taihen abunai (terribly dangerous). In fact the only danger was that the police were letting buses pass through, even as a religious ceremony was being carried out on the bridge.

One of the three Yasaka Jinja mikoshi, spiritual heart of the Gion Festival. The three deities honoured are Susanoo no mikoto, his wife and their children.

Men with large taimatsu torches accompanied the procession, which would stop occasionally while those carrying the mikoshi would give it a vigorous jostle. It reminded me of a passage in Donald Richie about the kami being like little children who enjoy being shaken and thrown around like babies in the arms of their parents. I’d presume that it’s the Shinto love of vitality that lies behind the jostling.

The mikoshi was on Shijo Bridge for about fifteen minutes while there was some kind of ceremony and it was washed with water from the river below, but unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the bridge to see what was going on. Presumably in days gone past, the mikoshi would have been taken down to the river itself. (It was on the dry river bed here that kabuki first developed, when a miko dancer from Izumo called Okuni performed theatre skits in ‘crazy’ kabuki fashion.)

‘Mawase, mawase,’ I could hear the chant at one point, when they wanted the mikoshi to be turned around so it could head back to Yasaka Jinja, where a Noh play was going to be performed. It was a brief but important event that serves as a reminder that we’re only five days away from the Yoiyama evenings of open houses and yukata crowds – something to look forward to in the humid Kyoto heat!

(Today being the 10th is also the day when work starts on assembling the hoko and yama floats, which will be displayed during the evenings of the 15th and 16th before the parade on the 17th.)

Gion 4): chigo

July 11, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

As we come up towards the main events in the Gion Festival on July 15-17, we’ll be hearing more about the figure at the centre of proceedings – the young boys known as chigo. What are these mysterious white-faced boys representing exactly?

The best information I’ve found on the subject is on Gabi Greve’s extensive Daruma Museum website, from which the extracts below are taken.

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A white horse-riding chigo

Chigo, small children 稚児. Originally, the word means babies who are still nursing 乳子(ちご.

They are also the children who perform certain duties in a temple, nowadays mostly dancing and taking part in a parade.

In former times also a name for the boys who served in temples and at the mansions of the royalty and lords.

chigo 稚児 catamite
young boys as sexual partners for men

In Japan young children are regarded as “other worldly” and not fully anchored in human life. Fetuses are still referred to as kami no ko or “child of the gods” and also as “Buddha”. Before the twentieth century, the probability that a child would survive to age five or seven was often less than 50 percent. Only after that age were they “counted” in a census and could they be “counted upon” to participate in the adult world.

Children were thought of as mysterious beings in a liminal world between the realm of humans and gods. Because of this the gods could speak through them. For centuries prepubescent children in Japan have been chosen as chigo, or “divine children”, who do divination and function as oracles. Even today children below school age still are allowed a somewhat heavenly existence, indulged and protected without many expectations or pressures.

Fuji 1: World Heritage

July 9, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Mt Fuji as seen from Yamanakako, one of the viewspots registered as part of the World Heritage status

Following a recent research trip to Mt Fuji to check on its World Heritage status, Green Shinto will be featuring a series of articles about Japan’s largest and most sacred mountain over the following days.

The designation of Fuji as a World Heritage site is for Cultural rather than Natural reasons (there were too many environmental problems for its initial application as a Natural Heritage site to go through). The Cultural Heritage of Fuji rests on two pillars: one is its religious aspect, and the other is its artistic representation by the likes of Hokusai, Hiroshige and various poets throughout the centuries.

From the bay at Tago
I see, when gazing out,
Pure white –
On the heights of Fuji’s peak
The snow has fallen.
– [by Yamabe-no-Akahito in the Manyoshu (8th century compilation of poetry)]

Yet despite its portrayal in famous ukiyo-e, such as Hokusai’s Great Wave, it’s the religious tradition of Mt Fuji which is responsible for most of the 25 different sites registered as part of Fuji’s World Heritage designation. There are three different strands: 1) the traditional animist worship of mountains; 2) the development of shugendo (mountain asceticism) focussed on Mt Fuji; 3) the Fuji-ko sect, which dates back to the sixteenth century.

As a consequence, Mt Fuji’s recent achievement of World Heritage status has considerably added to the number of Shinto shrines which are officially registered with Unesco for their ‘outstanding universal value’. No fewer than eight different Sengen shrines are included in the registration, together with other religious sites related to Fuji worship. In the articles that follow, I’ll be looking at some of these intriguing places and the remarkable cult of this volcanic mountain.

Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa with Mt Fuji in the background (Wikicommons)

Saio-dai interview

July 5, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Atsuko Kamei enjoying a lighter moment in her role as Saio-dai (all photos courtesy Rachelle Soto)

Thanks to Rachelle Soto, Green Shinto has been able to learn the feelings of a Saoi-dai, about whom we have written earlier (see here). Rachelle was able to gain an exclusive interview with Atsuko Kamei, who was chosen for the role of the Saio-dai in 2012.

For those who don’t know, the Saio-dai takes a lead role in Kyoto’s Aoi Festival held each May. in which she plays the part of the imperial princess-priestess attached from 812-1212 to the Kamo shrines (Shimogamo and Kamigamo). She was a token of purity, no doubt a vestige of the shamaness of ancient times (miko) whose vaginal bodies were a vehicle to channel the will of the kami.

Proclaiming at the poetry festival in April

In 1956 it was decided to add glamour to the Aoi Festival by including a young female to play the part of the former imperial priestess, dressed in the beautiful junihitoe (twelve-layered kimono of the Heian age). It worked, as is evident by the throng of photographers that hover around the Saio-dai. She’s very much the jewel in the crown.

Regarding the selection, did she have any inkling that her name had been put forward?

The selection process is a well-kept secret and when Atsuko (age 28) learned she was being suggested she was highly honored. The mysterious selection process is done behind the scenes, though it is clear that only girls from ‘good families’ are considered worthy of the position. In days of old, the process involved divination and intuition.

What duties did she have to carry out during the year?

Selection of the new Saio-dai comes a month before the big Aoi Festival parade on March 15. Her first duty is to offer tea in kimono at a small shrine that stands on the site of the medieval Saio’s residence.

The next duty is to preside over the important pre-Aoi purification (held in alternate years at Shimogamo and Kamigamo). Then comes the main function, which is the all-day parade from the Former Imperial Palace to Shimogamo (where imperial offerings are presented) and Kamigamo (for more imperial offerings).

Afterwards she dresses up in the junihitoe (twelve-layered kimono) to preside over the Karasu-zumo festival at Kamigamo in early September and for the Heian-style poetry festival in April. Surprisingly perhaps, there are no PR activities involved – no school talks and no promotional events. Since the position is conceived as spiritual in essence, the commercial angle is eschewed, though articles in the media about the Saio-dai ensure widespread publicity for the event.

Presiding at the Kyokusui utage (poetry festival) at Kamigamo Jinja

So did the Saio-dai get a sense of spirituality?

Atsuko was like most Japanese when it came to spirituality. She visited shrines for fun but was not particularly spiritual. However, while serving in the role she felt a bond with the princesses of the past, acting with dignity and discovering a peaceful spirit in her work. She was grateful to have had the experience and honoured to serve her community as Saio-dai.

How did it feel to wear such special clothing and make-up?

It took 30 minutes in all to put on the make-up, which was traditional in style and put on as it would have been done in times past. It took a further 30 minutes for the junihitoe (twelve-layers of kimono) to be put on by two masters of the craft. In addition there was a heavy wig with hair piece.

Though Atsuko had no complaints, if one considers the whole ensemble – thick make-up, heavy wig, layers and layers of clothing, then one can see that being outside for the whole day in the warmth of a May day with no breaks for refreshment could be challenging, to say the least.

How about the pressures of being a Saio-dai?

Atsuko said it was an honour to have so many people watching her. Even off-duty, people came to her place of employment just to meet her, as it getting close to an important person in Kyoto history. Overall she was humbled by the amount of interest shown, and grateful to have been chosen for such a prestigious role in Kyoto’s oldest festival.

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After having watched Atsuko serve as Saio-dai, and speak with her on several occasions, Rachelle Soto comments that they could not have chosen a better woman for the role. For a picture and self-penned English account of the 2011 Saio-dai (a Doshisha University student), see http://dsnews.web.fc2.com/2011-11/as_saiodai.html

Gion 3): former chigo

July 4, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

An article in The Japan News describes the spiritual nature behind the Gion Festival from the viewpoint of a former chigo, the young boy who symbolises purity and innocence at the head of the parade. The chigo are chosen from Kyoto’s elite tradtional families, and it’s no coincidence that the person featured here is now head of a flower arrangement school.

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Ryuho Sasaoka, former chigo, talks about the spiritual nature of the Gion Festival

Festival for prayer a special inheritance

July 2, 2013 Yuji Washio / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

KYOTO–At the Gion Festival, the Naginata-hoko float always travels at the front of the parade. Ryuho Sasaoka, headmaster of the Kyoto-based Misho-ryu Sasaoka school of flower arrangement, served as one of the young celebrants who ride the float in traditional attire when he was a fifth-grade primary school student.

“Seeing people who put more emphasis on the festival than their work, I recognized the festival was a very important community event,” Sasaoka said. “The very next year, I joined a troupe of musicians for the festival.”

Various events and traditions associated with the floats were registered as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in 2009. Sasaoka said their registration had added much to the festival. However, people associated with the festival insist that they are not meant to be a tourist attraction but are a Shinto rite.

“Without people’s prayers, the festival’s original significance is blurred,” he said. “Arranged flowers are meant as a spiritualistic medium in which deities reside. Examples include kadomatsu [New Year’s decorations fashioned from pine branches] and offerings to Shinto and Buddhist deities. The festival is similar. It has continued until today as it is backed by religious devotion.”

He quit the musician troupe as he became busy after becoming the headmaster in November 2011.

As he thought his involvement in the festival was precious, he started offering flowers to a local festival office beginning with last year’s festival. “I used blackberry lily, as I expected its shape, widening toward the end, would symbolize the festival’s continuation and expansion,” he said.

The chigo takes a star role in the Gion procession