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Nippon Kaigi (nationalist Shinto)

July 11, 2016 / John D. / 10 Comments

The news this morning that prime minister Abe Shinzo’s political allies have won a two-thirds majority in the Upper House elections does not bode well for the future direction of Japan. Or Shinto… (The article below is a truncated version of the original.)

For a youtube video (6 mins) exposing the group’s growing influence, see here.

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The Religious Cult Secretly Running Japan
by Jake Adelstein and Mari Yamamoto in The Daily Beast July 10, 2016

Nationalist Abe Shinzo Nippon Kaigi, a small cult with some of the country’s most powerful people, aims to return Japan to pre-WWII imperial “glory.” Sunday’s elections may further its goal.

TOKYO — In the Land of the Rising Sun, a conservative Shinto cult dating back to the 1970s, which includes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and many of his cabinet among its adherents, finally has been dragged out of the shadows.

The group is called Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) and is ostensibly run by Tadae Takubo, a former journalist turned political scientist. It only has 38,000 members, but like many an exclusive club, or sect, it wields tremendous political influence.

Broadly speaking, Shinto is a polytheistic and animist religion native to Japan. The state-sponsored Shintoism promulgated here before and during World War II also elevated the Emperor to the status of a God and insisted that the Japanese were a divine race –– the Yamato; with all other races considered inferior.

Nippon Kaigi originally began in the early 1970s from a liberal Shinto group known as Seicho No Ie. In 1974, a splinter section of the group joined forces with Nippon o Mamoru Kai, a State-Shinto revival organization that espoused patriotism and a return to imperial worship. The group in its current state was officially formed in May of 1997, when Nippon o Mamoru Kai and a group of right-leaning intellectuals joined forces.

The current cult’s goals: gut Japan’s post-war pacifist constitution, end sexual equality, get rid of foreigners, void pesky “human rights” laws, and return Japan to its Imperial Glory. With Japan’s parliamentary elections to be held on July 10, the cult may now have its chance to dominate politics completely. If the ruling coalition wins enough seats, the door will open to amending Japan’s modern democratic constitution, something that has remained sacred and inviolate since 1947.

Prime minister Abe on his controversial visit to Yasukuni (courtesy Japan Times)

Prime minister Abe on his controversial visit to Yasukuni Jinja (courtesy Japan Times)

Indeed, for Japan, these elections may be a constitutional Brexit—deciding whether this country moves forward as a democracy or literally takes a step back to the Meiji era that ended more than a century ago. Then, the Emperor was supreme and freedom of expression was subservient to the interests of the state.

The influence of Nippon Kaigi may be hard for an American to understand on a gut level. But try this: Imagine if “future World President” Donald Trump belonged to a right-wing evangelical group, let’s call it “USA Conference,” that advocated a return to monarchy, the expulsion of immigrants, the revoking of equal rights for women, restrictions on freedom of speech—and most of his pre-selected political appointees were from the same group.

Abe, a third-generation politician, is the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, who was Japan’s minister of munitions during WWII and arrested as a war criminal in 1945 before becoming prime minister in the 1950s. Abe is a staunch nationalist and historical revisionist, who also served as prime minister, from 2006 until 2007, before resigning abruptly mid-term. His ties to the Nippon Kaigi organization go back to the ‘90s.

The Asahi Shimbun and the independent press in Japan have called this year’s campaign “The Hidden Agenda Elections.” Local media have reported that the LDP and partner political parties have made sure their candidates avoid mentioning constitutional revision in their stump speeches.

The ideology behind Prime Minister Abe and his cabinet had received only modest scrutiny from Japan’s mainstream media until this May. All that changed with the publication of the surprise best seller, Nippon Kaigi No Kenkyu (Research into Japan Conference) by former white-collar worker turned journalist, Tamotsu Sugano, on April 30.

Japan’s leading constitutional expert, Setsu Kobayashi, who is also a former member of Nippon Kaigi, says of the group, “They have trouble accepting the reality that Japan lost the war” and that they wish to restore the Meiji era constitution. Some members are descendants of the people who started the war, he notes.

Despite Nippon Kaigi’s small numbers overall, half of the Abe Cabinet belongs to the Nippon Kaigi ‘National Lawmakers Friendship Association’, the group’s political offshoot. Prime Minister Abe himself is the special advisor. Former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, who is running for Governor of Tokyo, is another prominent memberSankei Shimbun and others have reported that Nippon Kaigi even tried to pressure the publisher, Fusosha, into dropping the book on April 28.

The protest letter sent to the publisher was surprisingly under the name of the group’s secretary general, Yuzo Kabushima, not the name of the Chairman Tadae Takubo. Kabushima is a staunch Emperor worshipper and was a key member of Seicho No Ie’s student movement. (Sugano argues in his book that Kabushima is the person really running the organization.

Under prime minister Abe Shinzo, nationalist groups have been emboldened, such as this paramilitary group worshipping legendary first emperor, Jimmu, at Kashihara Jingu.

Despite the threatening tone of the letter, the publisher didn’t budge. Originally, only 8,000 copies of the book were printed. It’s now on it’s fourth printing with over 126,000 copies sold. Five other books have now been printed on the group; magazines are running front-page stories about them.

Suddenly, Nippon Kaigi is very visible. Sugano is surprised and relieved to see Nippon Kaigi and its influence on national policy finally getting attention. He himself is a political conservative who graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in political science before returning to Japan over a decade ago. While he was living in Texas, where he picked up a bit of an accent, he noticed how the Christian evangelical movement exerted political influence and sees some parallels in their methods and those of Nippon Kaigi.

Sugano was still a white collar worker aka “salary-man” when he first became aware of the existence of Nippon Kaigi. Back in 2008, Sugano recalls the shift he felt in the atmosphere on the streets. “Crazy people were starting to speak out,” he says. Protests lead by groups, such as the anti-foreigner hate speech group Zaitokukai were more noticeable. He saw an ugly escalation of their activities with each passing day.

He found these hate speech movements troubling and started to infiltrate their protests, documenting the events in photos and recordings. In order to understand the motives of members and supporters, he started to dig into the conservative publications often referenced in their online comments.

Nippon Kaigi flags at Yasukuni Jinja

The contributors that wrote for these publications puzzled him. Many were established in their field, journalists and academics, all contributing on topics unrelated to their expertise. This peculiar pattern helped him connect the dots: they all seemed to be members of one group. That realization led him down the rabbit hole, where he found the revisionist wonderland that is Nippon Kaigi.

Nippon Kaigi, he found, used neto-uyo (cyber right wingers who troll anyone on the internet they feel writes negatively of Japan), intellectuals, politicians, and closet sympathizers in mainstream media to exert considerable influence on policy and public opinion.

That included getting the Japanese government to reinstitute the Imperial Calendar, which was banished by the U.S. occupation government. It’s 2016 in the West, but under the Imperial Calendar, based on the reign of the Emperor, it is year 28 of the Heisei era. The system is so confusing that many reporters in Japan carry a handy chart to translate the Imperial Calendar dates into Western time.

While several recently published books and articles paint a picture of a masterful Machiavellian organization that has skirted the law to avoid having to register as a political group, Sugano believes they are primarily reactionary with no clear idea what they want to do once their goals are achieved.

“They have worked steadily and stealthily with local politicians and political lobbies to oppose things like gender equality, recognition of war crimes and the comfort women [sex slaves during WWII], women using their maiden names after marriage etc. It’s anti-this and anti-that but has no vision of the future.”

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From Japan Today on July 14, 2016, by Mari Yamaguchi

Founded in 1997, Nippon Kaigi has strived to revise the constitution to restore traditional gender roles, increase imperial worshipping and put public interest before individuals. The group is believed to be behind Abe’s comeback in 2012 and has become increasingly influential.

Their grass-roots movement backed by Shinto shrines and other new religious groups has a growing membership that reportedly includes many of Abe’s Cabinet ministers and hundreds of national and local lawmakers.

The organization holds lectures and other events to spread its views and defends Japan’s wartime atrocities while accusing China and South Korea of lying or exaggerating their suffering. It also believes the U.S. postwar occupation brainwashed Japanese with guilt and that education since the war was self-degrading.

Always keep the rising sun in your heart, says a poster put out by Jinja Honcho

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From the Japan Times article, ‘For Abe it will always be about the Constitution’ by Debito Arudou July 31, 2016

For decades Abe and his minions at the ultranationalist Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) lobby group (of which most of Abe’s Cabinet are members) have made no secret that their primary goal is to make Japan “autonomous.” To restore Japan to an imagined state of glory based upon blood nationalism, returning power to a bred elite, reviving Japan’s military political power with a seat at the civilian policymaking table, and putting the duty on the people to follow the state, not the other way around.

That has always meant getting rid of that pesky American-written and “imposed” postwar “peace Constitution” that enshrines allegedly “Western” values of human rights and empowerment of the individual. No longer content to ignore the Constitution, Abe wants to scrap it.

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Related articles

Jeff Kingston, “Nationalism in the Abe Era”
Adam Lebowitz and Tawara Yoshifumi. “The Hearts of Children: Morality, Patriotism, and the New Curricular Guidelines.”
David McNeill, “Nippon Kaigi and the Radical Conservative Project to Take Back Japan.”
Sachie Mizohata, “Nippon Kaigi: Empire, Contradiction, and Japan’s Future.”
Mark R. Mullins, “Neonationalism, Religion, and Patriotic Education in Post-disaster Japan.”
Nakano Koichi, “Contemporary Political Dynamics of Japanese Nationalism.”
Karoline Postel-Vinay, “The Global Rightist Turn, Nationalism and Japan.”
Lawrence Repeta, “Japan’s Democracy at Risk – The LDP’s Ten Most Dangerous Proposals for Constitutional Change“
Sven Saalar, “Nationalism and History in Comporary Japan.”
Sasagase Yuji, Hayashi Keita and Sato Kei. “Japan’s Largest Rightwing Organization: An Introduction to Nippon Kaigi.”
Akiko Takenaka, “Japanese Memories of the Asia-Pacific War: Analyzing the Revisionist Turn Post-1995.”
Tawara Yoshifumi. “The Abe Government and the Screening of Japanese Junior High School Textbooks 2014.”

Gion Festival bigger than ever

July 6, 2016 / John D. / 0 Comments

This year's poster advertising the main dates, with two different processions and the usual three days of yoiyama extended to four and two different processions. The poster float is the restored 'ofune', representing the boat on which Empress Jingu supposedly sailed.

This year’s poster advertising the main dates, with two different processions and the usual three days of yoiyama extended to four. The poster float is the restored ‘ofune’, representing the boat on which Empress Jingu supposedly sailed on her incursion into Korea.

It’s the biggest and most authentic of Kyoto’s ‘big three’ festivals. It lasts a month. It recently doubled up its main procession with an extra parade. And given the huge increase in tourist numbers this year, the 2016 Gion Matsuri looks like being one of the biggest and best yet. The evenings before the main parade on July 17 are the times to wander the streets. Get your yukata out and be prepared for fun, throngs and some rare treasures. This is festival Japan at its most festive.

Three golden “mikoshi” portable shrines leave Yasakajinja shrine en route to central Kyoto with hundreds of worshippers who take turns carrying the mikoshi on their shoulders on July 17, 2013. (Asahi Shimbun photo)

KYOTO THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, July 5, 2016

–The ancient capital is once again in the grip of the Gion Festival, one of the three biggest events of its kind in Japan, which lasts for the month of July. This year’s festival kicked off on July 1 with a prayer for the event’s success, the first of many rituals, ceremonies and traditional parades through the city. “Yamahoko Junko,” the grand procession, is famed for its tall floats with “hoko” halberds displayed on their roofs, and is usually held on July 17 and 24.

A musician adds to the atmosphere of the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto

In this photo feature, 10 images of Yamahoko Junko at the Gion Festival taken in the Showa Era (1926-1989) have been selected to show what has changed and what has stayed the same in the city of Kyoto. The photos also show how the festival has evolved through a period in time when society and the environment have gone through drastic transformations.

The festival is said to have originated between the eighth and 10th centuries with the purpose of warding off curses that were believed to have caused frequent natural disasters and plagues in Kyoto. A series of events are held to invite the three gods enshrined at Yasaka Jinja in Higashiyama Ward on the east side of the Kamogawa river to central Kyoto.

The Gion Festival’s most important ritual is “Mikoshitogyo,” in which the three gods are brought to central Kyoto in “mikoshi” portable shrines over the river. The mikoshi will stay in the city center for a week before being returned to the shrine.

The Yamahoko processions are the highlights of the festival and traditionally held twice, before and after Mikoshitogyo. The tradition was “rationalized” to only one procession before the ritual in 1966, until the second procession was revived in 2014.

The floats are often called “moveable museums” as they are lavishly decorated with drapes, including historical tapestries and rugs that were once prized possessions of nobles and powerful people imported from as far as Europe hundreds of years ago, and donated for the festival.

This year, a new dragon figurehead has been reconstructed for the stem of “Ofunehoko,” a large boat-shaped float. The figurehead was lost in Japan’s civil war in 1864 during the Meiji Restoration. [The float was later destroyed by fire, but in 2014 after being restored at a cost of 120 million yen, it returned to the festival with its 16th century Portuguese side cloths and rich brocade tapestries. It represents the ship on which Empress Jingu supposedly returned from Korea in the 3rd century.]

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For the official schedule of events, see here. Click here for the 10-part Green Shinto series on the festival. For historical information, see here. Information about each individual float, here.

A yamahoko band playing Gion Festival music (Gionbayashi) during the parade of floats. (Photo courtesy Yomiuri Shimbun)

Some of the displays are exquisite

Some of the floats are in narrow packed streets, difficult to negotiate even for the many pedestrians

Lanterns on one of the Gion floats in the evenings before the parade

Sales team at the ready: each float has its own amulet and other religious items

The chigo takes a star role in the Gion procession (to learn more click here)

Touring Mt Daisen

July 6, 2016 / John D. / 2 Comments

courtesy Houki Town website

At 1,729 meters, Daisen rises as the tallest mountain in western Japan. It’s in Tottori Prefecture, on the way to the Izumo province of ancient myth. In the winter, the area transforms into the Okudaisen ski resort, drawing ski fans from all over the country with its views of the Sea of Japan and the Shimane peninsula. Locals like to call it the Tottori version of Mount Fuji thanks to its perfectly conical shape when viewed from the south side. From the west, however, it’s all craggy rough-hewn peaks. In the article below, the mountain’s religious history is covered, including its Shugendo connections. For those interested in ‘spiritual tourism’ off the beaten track, this is a most attractive option.

Fiery nights on Mount Daisen

By Rebecca Quin Japan Today Jul. 01, 2016

I feel the heat before I see it as we wind our way in the dark along the stone paved approach up the mountain towards the shrine. A horn sounds and the orange glow of fire through the dark trees gets stronger. Turning the corner, I’m half expecting to see a legion of armoured samurai readying for battle – what’s waiting on the steps to the summit is less terrifying but just as impressive.   It’s the opening of the climbing season on Mount Daisen, known as “Okami-no-take” or “the mountain of the gods”, where climbers come to take part in an ancient festival to ask for safety and protection among its volcanic peaks – the highest in the Chugoku region. The festival is one of the area’s most popular, attracting more than 2,000 people over the first weekend of June.

The main event is a “Game of Thrones”-style torchlight parade down from the misty mountaintop guided by fur-clad “yamabushi” (warrior mountain priests) and the long, deep echo of their conch shells. This year, the invisible, steady patter of rain joins us.

The Shrine for the Mountain of the Great Spirit ‘Ogamiyama’ (from Houki Town website)

Crowds in brightly-colored rain jackets were jostling for shelter under the gray eaves of Ogamiyama Shrine where the parade began. We’d visited the shrine earlier that day and I spot the two “komainu” or lion-dog statues still guarding the stone steps up to the main hall, faces split into a half-grin at the shivering group of press stationed by the entrance gate. This morning there had been no one but now the forested grounds were buzzing with families, young couples and climbers decked out in full hiking gear, their excitement mounting as the priests began performing the first rituals.

Dating back to the Heian period, Ogamiyama Shrine, along with Daisen-ji temple which sits just below on the mountain slope, was once part of a thriving center of “shugendo” worship. Climbing the mountain was banned to normal folk before the Edo period, allowing for the natural conservation of an expansive beech forest that is now under the protection of the Daisen-Oki National Park.

Around 3,000 mountain ascetics came to train on Mount Daisen up until the Meiji era “shinbutsu-bunri,” when the large network of branch temples declined with the separation of Shinto and Buddhism.

Four worship halls and 10 branch temples are all that remain of the once bustling temple town. You can glimpse what it must have been like with a traditional temple stay at Sanraku-so, located just before the entrance to Daisen-ji.

Yamabushi

Ogamiyama Shrine is an incredible building; the tall crumbling steps leading up to the shrine are framed by towering beech trees and a mist resting poetically on the curled edges of a distinctive bark roof. Inside, the rooms lead into one another in the shape of an H according to the “gongen-zukuri” style, connecting the worship hall, hall of offerings and the main sanctuary together.

Suddenly, everything is silent. The sound of the head “yamabushi” sounding the horn cuts into the darkness and the parade begins. From where I’m standing at the bottom of the steps, I see a wave of fire emerge from the top and start to flow down like lava. It makes me think of medieval peasants on a witchhunt and is Hollywood-spectacular – just for a second, I slip through time into another world.

Mount Daisen is considered to be the home of the first Shinto god and ancestor of Japan. Its mythology permeates the towns and communities that surround it, detectable in the unexpected giant demon sculptures overlooking an isolated row of farmhouses or the smiling stone “jizo” statues that poke out of the grass along the curving roads.

During warmer climes, a three-hour hike will take you to the top via one of two main routes. Staff at the Daisen Tourist Information Center encouragingly claim that both are easy enough to be regularly tackled by local elementary school kids on geography trips. The center, in a Swiss-style chalet at the bottom of the hill leading up to Daisen-ji temple, provides advice on making the climb as well as other things to do in the area.

Throughout the year, cozy “minshuku” or guesthouses offer family-style lodging in the main town and at various points along the hiking trails. An even cheaper option might be one of the campgrounds run by the National Park Service near the Gouenzan Ski Area.

Spiritual high on Mt Daisen (Houki Town website)

As the ambassador for the region’s growing ecotourism movement, Daisen’s carefully preserved streets and traditional, sustainable architecture reflect the conservation of the often surprising natural landscape that makes up much of Tottori-ken. The sprawling sand dunes along the San’in coast are the first piece of the prefecture’s puzzle of geographic wonders when you arrive via Tottori airport, nicknamed Tottori Sand Dunes Conan after the manga hero (whose author is a Tottori native).

From the mountains to the sea, outdoor activities flourish. Tourist brochures are filled with photos of mountain biking, horseriding, snorkeling, boat cruising, paragliding and sandboarding, all set against jaw-dropping backdrops.

In the mountain’s foothills, the village of Houki is straight from a postcard, dotted with quaint holiday homes and picturesque rest stops. This is where we retreat to when the rain clears the following day, stopping for brunch in an adorable Totoro-themed cafe. Sitting in the sunshine I think of the climbers who gathered at dawn for the first summer ascent of the mountain and wonder if they made it ok. Seeing the majestic peak of Daisen soar into the sky in the distance, I can believe that they did.

External Link: http://www.tottori-tour.jp/en/

Tottori map

Tanabata 7/7

July 6, 2016 / John D. / 5 Comments

IMG_2390_2

My local station (Demachiyanagi in Kyoto) has put up this attractive looking arrangement next to its information rack. What’s that all about your may wonder? Well, thereby hangs a tale of star-crossed lovers…

Seven is a magic number, and double seven doubly so. In Daoism it’s part of the 3-5-7 odd numbers that denote dynamism. It’s said too to be related to the phases of the moon, with the lunar cycle of 28 days being split into quarters of seven days – hence the length of the week. Lucky seven is written deep into the culture: seven ages of Man, 007, seven dwarves of Snow White, seven brides for seven brothers, seventh son of a seventh son.

So why not make your 7/7 a little bit special this year? Read on, and you may find out how…..

7/7 sees decorations up around Japan to celebrate a celestial coming together

Stars and constellations had a close connection with the spirituality of early Man. ‘It’s written in the stars,’ goes the old saying. Tanabata is a clear example. It concerns two lovers represented by two different constellations, which are separated by the Milky Way but able to meet once a year. By way of celebration, people write poems or their wishes on strips of brightly coloured paper which are tied to bamboo.

Tanabata decorations around a sacred tree at Fuji Sengen Jinja

Like much of ‘Japanese tradition’, it has its origins in China. It was first mentioned in the 7th century, and later during the Tokugawa period it became established as one of the ‘five seasonal feasts’. These included New Year’s Day (1/1); Kyokusui no en (Poetry writing) (3/3); Boys Festival (5/5); and the Festival of Chrysanthemums (9/9). Things have changed since then, but the Tanabata tradition carries on.

Here is what the authoritative Kokugakuin encyclopedia has to say on the subject:

According to an ancient Chinese story, two lovers—the Herdsman (Altair in the constellation Aquila) and the Weaver woman (Vega in the constellation Lyra)—traversed the sky separately and could cross the Milky Way and be together but once a year provided the sky was clear. This day was called Qi Xi, or “seventh night” (read tanabata in Japanese).

A similar myth existed in Japan about the saintly maiden weaver, Tanabatatsume (lit. ‘girl of the shelved loom’), who awaits her annual one-night visit from a kami at her hut by the river (that is, the Milky Way), and this fused with the Chinese tale of the Weaver woman.

Prayers at Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen at Tanabata time

Also related to this celebration is a festival called kikōden, during which women pray for improvement in their weaving and calligraphy skills. At the court during the Heian period, they would skewer various foods from land and sea such as pears, peaches, and dried bream on seven gold and seven silver needles and threading them with five-colored string (blue, yellow, red, white, and black) to use as a tanabata offering. A banquet would also be held during which the emperor would observe the meeting of the stars, and performances of poetry, songs, and instrumental music would take place.

Nowadays on Tanabata, people commonly write poems or wishes on fancy strips of paper (tanzaku) and cut stars and other shapes out of brightly colored paper, and use these to decorate a stalk of bamboo. The decorated stalks are customarily released into rivers, streams, and the sea the next morning. Some believe this practice is the product of the spread of lessons in reading and writing during the Edo period.

In some areas, horse-shaped puppets or other objects are substituted for bamboo stalks, and in others, the celebration involves a lighting of torches. Regardless of these variations, the celebrations that mark Tanabata are another example of an event wherein people welcome the kami and their ancestors for the occasion and send them away after they have spent the night.

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Wikipedia also carries a full page of information on the subject, including this rather interesting titbit…

In 2008, the 34th G8 summit in Tōyako, Hokkaidō coincided with Tanabata. As host, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda invited the G8 leaders to participate in the spirit of the festival. They were each asked to write a wish on a piece of paper called tanzaku, to hang the tanzaku on a bamboo tree, and then to take the necessary actions to change the world for better. As a symbolic gesture, the actual writing and the act of hanging up that note is at least a first step.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made colored strips of paper and a bamboo tree for G8 wishes available in Roppongi during the summit. Protesting organizations in Sapporo during the G8 summit also tried to use the spirit of Tanabata to focus attention on a somewhat different set of wishes. Non-governmental organizations like Oxfam, and CARE International set up an online wish petition campaign to coincide with the G8 Summit and Tanabata.

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For one of the best and fullest accounts of Tanabata, please see Megan Manson’s neopagan-Shinto website.

This year astronaut Onishi Takuya, about to head off to the stars himself for four months, made the headlines by saying that he too was wishing on a star for Tanabata – see here.

ISSA fieldwork (Sudo and Sekizan Zen’in)

June 30, 2016 / John D. / 0 Comments

Keeping an eye on the north east
by Jann Williams (photos supplied by Jann)

On June 11^th 2016 the International Shinto Studies Association (ISSA) held its second fieldwork program. The afternoon program, which visited Sudo Shrine and Sekizan Zen’in Temple in north east Kyoto, was led by Reverend Yoshinobu Miyake, the Chair of the Board of ISSA. I learnt of the field day through Green Shinto and after contacting Reverend Miyake my husband Tony and I were accepted into the program. On the day we met at 1 pm at Kokusaikaikan Station and were taken by taxis to the two sites.

As Tony and I are both ecologists, we thought that a day of field work would involve some work in the field (e.g. helping tidy up the shrine/temple grounds), so we dressed accordingly. Next time we will know to wear different attire, with the other participants being dressed more formally. This is illustrated in the group photo taken at Sudo Shrine below. As the only participants who did not speak Japanese, we appreciated the Reverend translating some of the information for us.

Group photo Sudo Shrine June 11 2016

Even without hearing the full story, being able to visit these two sites was worthwhile and we appreciated the opportunity to do so. Both the shrine and temple are located on forested slopes which added to the enjoyment of the afternoon. The vibrancy of the vegetation in early summer was a sight to behold.

The original Green Shinto article advertising the ISSA event has links to more information about the Shrine and Temple we visited, including an informative interview with the priest at Sezikan Zen’in Temple. As a consequence I will limit this report to a few impressions of the field day with some accompanying images.

Sekizan Zen’in
The two sites were located to the north east of the original Imperial Palace in Kyoto, as shown in the next image. The spirit gate called Kimon, which is used by demons, is believed to stand in the north east. The Tendai sect temple we visited, established in 888, has been widely worshipped as the protector of people from bad luck coming through this gate.

Pointing out directions

A monk from the temple shared many stories with us, including about the monkey imagery at the temple (seen below on the rooftop behind the monk), the Mt Hiei thousand day practice the ‘marathon monks’ underwent, the origin of the pilgrimage of Kyoto’s Seven Deities of Good Luck, and the importance of the polar star. It was all fascinating and information that otherwise would be challenging to uncover. The ability to see inside some of the temple buildings at Sezikan Zen’in and take photos was appreciated.

Monk with monkey imagery

The temple is known for its syncretic nature, with many Shinto elements apparent at the site including torii, ema and shide. The rosary-shaped gate you walk through reminded me of the chinowa that are gracing shrines at the moment – although in the case of the temple the fixture is permanent. In the next image Reverend Miyake is explaining that you can only make one wish as you walk through the rosary gate. Recently I have visited the Hozanji Shingon Temple at Ikoma which also has a strongly syncretic nature. These places provide some sense of the intimate connections between Shinto and Buddhism before the shinbutsu bunri, the separation of kami and buddhas, in 1868.

Rosary gate and Reverend Miyake

In addition to the Shinto aspects of the temple, the links to China were a feature of the visit for me. For example, the importance of directions such as the north east stems from Chinese geomancy. According to the information board provided by Kyoto City the principal statue at the temple, Sezikan Myojin, was made by the high priest Jikaku Daishi as a double image of Taizanfukun (Dosojin, the guardian deity for the community, in the yin-yang philosophy) in Sezikan, China. I have a particular interest in yinyang and the associated five Chinese elements as part of the research I am undertaking on the elements in Japan.

Sudo Shrine
Sudo Shrine also has a long history. It was established to enshrine the avenging spirit of Prince Sawara Shinno after he died of hunger in 785 AD. On arrival we participated in a purification ceremony at the Shrine. The following image of the service was provided by Reverend Miyake. While I have been part of similar ceremonies at Oomoto, this was my first purely Shinto experience in an outdoor setting. It was one of many special program activities organised during the afternoon.

Purification ceremony Sudo Shrine

The two cones of sand in front of the main shrine (pictured below), each with a sakaki branch and shide in them, reminded me of similar cones I have seen at Kamigamo Shrine (which have pine needles in them) and at Zen Temples such as Myoshin-ji. I was told the cones at Sudo Shrine were related to mountain deities. At Kamigamo Shrine they represent yin and yang. At Zen Temples they have been linked to purification. It is interesting and important to contemplate the shared imagery and rituals between Buddhism and Shinto, as Green Shinto has recently done with Zen. As was shown, there is more that connects them than meets the eye.

The ISSA fieldwork program, while it was not what Tony and I were expecting, was an informative and enriching day. The pace was quick, with presentations given by two priests at the Shrine, a monk at the Temple, and Reverend Miyake at both locations. It was a lot to take in. In hindsight it would have been helpful to take some notes to record some of the finer details we were given. There was also limited time to take photographs, one of my favourite pastimes. All useful lessons if the opportunity to attend another field day arises. I would definitely recommend it.

Twin cones at Sudo Shrine

First clock festival

June 12, 2016 / John D. / 0 Comments

One of the functions of the shaman in ancient societies was as guardian of the tribe’s identity. This often meant memorising great chunks of mythology and history. Keeping a record of the past not only tells you who you are, but it honours the memory of the ancestors. In other words, it’s part of what is known as ‘ancestor worship’.

Modern Shinto fulfills the same role as ancient shamanism, carefully keeping the past alive in the countless festivals that occur in the country throughout the year. What’s interesting about this report below is that the festival was started in 1941 and the shrine in 1940. Was it connected to the patriotic spirit of the time? Was it simply a matter of exploiting local lore? Or was there some ulterior motive in picking up the subject of clocks?

Whatever the reason, I like the way Shinto acts to keep Japanese history a part of contemporary life. Each year the past is renewed. And each time the national identity is reinforced. It’s an important part of Japaneseness.

(30 second video of the ritual)

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Festival celebrating Japan’s first clock held in Shiga shrine

Kyodo Jun 10, 2016 Japan Times

OTSU – Women and men clad in ancient Japanese court dress took part in an annual clock festival Friday at a shrine to a seventh century emperor in Shiga Prefecture who is said to be the founding father of the clock time system in Japan.

As musicians played flutes and drums, the participants, including representatives of the clock industry, offered the latest products from Japanese clock makers to Omi Shrine to show its deity, Emperor Tenji (626-672), how clocks have developed.

According to the shrine in Otsu, Emperor Tenji introduced a water clock known as rokoku in Shiga’s capital, where the shrine is situated, on April 25, 671. The emperor is said to have believed in the importance of clocks to Japan’s development.

The ringing of the bell of the first clock in Japan was recorded in the “Nihon Shoki” (“The Chronicles of Japan”), an ancient book of history.

April 25 corresponds to June 10 in the solar calendar, thus June 10 was designated as Clock Day in Japan in 1920. The shrine, built in 1940, started holding the festival every June 10 in 1941.

New Folk Shinto

June 6, 2016 / John D. / 1 Comment

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Imagine my surprise when on my usual commute along the river Kamogawa in Kyoto, I happened to see the above scene. How very odd I thought. But then I remembered Green Shinto friend Roger Walch telling me something about his friends in an art collective in Osaka who organise an annual fertility festival in the Kamogawa. I guessed it must be them.

There were a couple of women accompanying the group along the river bank carrying banners, so I stopped to ask them about the event. They told me it was the Tentsuku Hounen Matsuri (Tentsuku being heavenly possession and Hounen meaning fertility and the name of the famous phallic festival held at Nagoya every year). Was it an artistic performance or a religious festival, I asked? It’s folk religion, they answered. A new addition to the tradition of Minzoku Shinto.

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This was the first time I’ve come across this in Japan. Green Shinto has carried reports of similar developments in the West, so for Japan this seemed something of a breakthrough. Japan is famously conservative, and in nearly every social movement over the past century it’s lagged something like thirty to fifty years behind the West. Think of smoking, gay rights, drugs, feminism, anti-discrimination…. you name it, and Japan will be the last to implement it.

In this respect I can’t help thinking that the Tentsuku Hounen Matsuri is Japan’s equivalent to the first neo-pagan events in the West, before words like Wicca had become part of the national consciousness. I recall taking part in an early Beltane festival at Glastonbury in the early 1970s that was very much on a par with the small group striding along the river in Kyoto.

I can’t speak for the intentions of the group, but the event was ‘pregnant’ with symbolism. Red is the colour of health and well-being, the phallus the organ of seed-giving. The impact of the red phallus is traditionally not only one of fertility, but of a way of scaring away evil spirits (in Bhutan they have them painted on their houses). This goes along with the white clothes to denote purity, and the troupe was led, I noticed, by a fellow with a big phallic nose indicative of Sarutahito, guide and leader.

The phallus was pointing at the triangular power spot where the rivers meet

The phallus was aiming for this triangular power spot

The route of the group was from Sanjo upriver to Imadegawa and the ‘power spot’ in the junction of the two rivers, Kamogawa and Takanogawa. Here the group enacted a very simple penetration by pushing the red phallus through a white sheet with a hole in it. (I’ve seen this done much more graphically in traditional style in a rice field.) I’m not sure if their intention was to bring fertility to the crops of the area, or to their own creative endeavours in the coming year.

The direction the group took towards the north is traditionally the correct way in which to approach sources of energy and authority. Rivers are well-known energy lines, and the meeting of rivers is a convergence of energy often denoted by ancient markers such as a shrine (in this case Shimogamo Jinja).

The classic shrine in the midst of a wooded copse has been compared to the female womb which is reached through a passageway via a torii opening. Within the womb takes place a magical ritual signifying impregnation, by which the kami descends and life is re-created. This is all the more evident in the case of Shimogamo, since the meeting point of the two rivers forms a V-shape.

It seems then that this New Age Folk Shinto has been very well conceived! Green Shinto truly hopes this is an early indicator of what is to come in the following years as a young generation turns to the past for inspiration, in the same way that neo-paganism has done in Britain and elsewhere.

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The Osaka collective pose for a photo by Swiss video maker and Green Shinto friend, Roger Walch