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Cold water austerities

January 12, 2015 / John D. / 0 Comments

Bathers run around Teppozu Inari Shinto Shrine before dipping into a tub of cold water with blocks of ice during a winter ritual at the shrine in Tokyo on Sunday. More than 100 people gathered for the mid-winter event (Kanchu misogi) to pray for a healthy new year. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

The beginning of a new year in Japan is a time for many purifying events to signify a fresh start, free of the spiritual pollution accumulated in the past year. Japan Today carries an article today highlighting the event above at the Teppozu Inari Shrine in Tokyo.

Yamabushi members carry out part of their cold weather austerities by soliciting funds from local shops near Kyoto's Ebisu Shrine

Misogi austerities are syncretic, carried out at both temples and shrines, and yesterday while visiting the Ebisu Shrine event in Kyoto I noticed some yamabushi (mountain ascetics) collecting funds from the local shops while carrying a banner saying they were involved in cold weather austerities. They told me they were Shingon members attached to Toji temple and in syncretic fashion had come to join in the shrine festivities of Toka Ebisu (see picture to the right).

The mass misogi at Teppozu Inari consists of warm-up ‘rowing’ exercises with group chants following which participants run around the shrine and then immerse themselves in tubs of freezing cold water containing ice blocks.

The whole event takes some 30 minutes, and for a 4-minute video of the Kanchu misogi at Teppozu Inari shrine click here. For a thumbnail overview of the whole event, please see this link.

In the first picture above, the former shrine priest emerges from the shrine to lead by example. He was a remarkably youthful man in his 80s, so his cold water austerities had stood him in good stead!

The shrine is unusual in having a Fujizuka slope created from the lava of the volcano. It is open for climbing on July 1st, and ascending is said to bring the same spiritual merit as climbing the mountain itself. (Access to the shrine: From Ueno, take the Hibiya Line to Hacchobori stn. (10 min.) and walk south (10 min.)

The Fujizuka at Teppozu Inari Jinja

Iwakura (sacred rocks)

January 11, 2015 / John D. / 0 Comments

Pair of iwakura at Achi Jinja in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture

Nice paragraph today by Stephen Mansfield writing about Kurashiki near Okayama… it draws attention to one of the aspects of Shinto that is little written about and yet is central to the practice as a whole. What’s interesting about the article is that Achi Shrine of which Mansfield writes lies close to the Inland Sea and has strong connections with immigrants from Korea, which may have been the source of rock worship in Japan. It’s something I’ll be touching on in my next book, hopefully…

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For those interested in Japan’s pre-Shinto spirit world and the putative origins of its early stone gardens, Achi Shrine is home to a number of large granite boulders known as iwakura. Also called “seats of the gods,” they appealed to the early Japanese, who possessed nothing comparable to shrines or religious reliquaries — to them the stones were natural force fields, attracting the presence of deities. Found in forest clearings and other natural settings, iwakura were cordoned off with rice-fiber ropes, and the ground around them strewn with pebbles, in what could well be a seminal model of the dry landscape garden. After staring for some time into the dark mirror of the stones, which are older than everything here, even the historic district in Kurashiki seemed less aged.

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For more about sacred rocks, see the postings under the category for Rocks on the right, particularly this one.

Sacred stone on the hill behind Kibitsu Jinja, Okayama

Fushimi hill behind the famous Fushimi Inari shrine is a treasure trove of sacred rocks

The giant mirror rock at Hiyoshi Shrine near Lake Biwa, where the kami may have first descended

A sacred rock in the town of.... Iwakura! (Northern outskirts of Kyoto)

Did sacred rocks provide the inspiration for the Japanese rock garden?

California tea and torii

January 8, 2015 / John D. / 1 Comment

Torii with a twist (All photos courtesy of Jann Williams)

Green Shinto follower, Jann Williams, has written in with this striking picture of a Japanese tea house at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, California. It was made in Kyoto in 1949 for a wealthy Santa Barbara patron, from whom the city acquired it in the1990s. Jann writes, ‘It’s interesting that the teahouse was sent so soon after WW2 ended. Some strong connection must have been there.’

The teahouse was given the name ShinKanAn, meaning “Look Through the Heart,” by the 15th Oiemoto (Grand Master) of the Urasenke Tea School.

The gate to the teahouse is a clever cross between the form of a torii and the wabi-sabi architecture of the traditional teahouse, which uses stripped branch and pillars. Sometimes ‘found objects’ are used in their natural state. This is echoed in the branch used to create the second beam of the torii.

The addition of a gateway in the lower portion of course negates the whole ‘open gateway’ notion of the torii, but the purpose here is artistic rather than spiritual. On the other hand it’s tempting to see it as a Calfornia-style innovation, in similar manner to a California sushi. In other words it’s an adaptation, much in keeping with Shinto’s past.

There are two contrasting ways of viewing such innovations. Either one bemoans ‘the transgression’ and views it as a despicable straying from orthodoxy. Or one finds it an exciting break with tradition. Personally I’m inclined to the latter. We live in a postmodern world, and it would be reactionary to resist change simply for the sake of a ‘tradition’. As has been demonstrated by modern historians, tradition is a construct and usually a fairly recent one at that (in Shinto’s case, from the Meiji Restoration of 1868).

Shinto has evolved throughout its history, and there’s every reason to think that it will evolve further as it spreads overseas. The same has happened to Zen and shamanistic practices as they became popular in the West. California has long taken a lead in such matters, and personally at some point I would expect to see a similar type of Californication happening to Shinto. Which kami will they be praying to, I wonder?

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Further information about the teahouse, including opening times etc., can be had at this link.

Wood instead of bamboo for the fencing, but it's a very Japanese scene

Unbroken

January 8, 2015 / John D. / 4 Comments

Mutsuhiro Takeuchi, Shinto priest and nationalist spokesman (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

One often comes across Shinto priests speaking out on matters that concern right-wing nationalism. Sadly this is not balanced by the number of Shinto priests who speak out in favour of environmentalism, human rights and universalism.

In the current controversy concerning the film Unbroken, Shinto’s voice has been prominent in attacks on the portrayal. Unfortunately the stance simply draws attention to Japan’s abysmal record of evasion concerning the wrongs of the past. In the report below a Shinto representative utters a barefaced lie in denying wartime cannibalism, since there is plenty of evidence of this being carried out by Japanese soldiers. Not only is it well documented, but there have been confessions by perpetrators.

There is an account of one such incident in Ian Buruma’s excellent The Wages of Guilt, which compares memories of the war in Germany and Japan. Commenting on the striking difference between the two countries, Buruma notes that the US never fully dismantled the trappings of State Shinto (which include Yasukuni and the emperor system) because of Cold War considerations.

One of the most moving incidents in Buruma’s book is an account of a handful of Japanese participants at a conference in Nanking to consider the infamous massacre of 1937. Afterwards one of the Japanese teachers present changed into the garb of a Buddhist priest and remorsefully prayed for the victims. Could one imagine a Shinto priest doing this? Buddhist sects have officially apologised for their compliance in Japan’s wartime actions. Shinto on the other hand is closely aligned with revisionists and nationalists.

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Angelina Jolie’s ‘Unbroken’ sparks Japanese boycott calls due to WWII torture claims
By Douglas Ernst – The Washington Times – Friday, December 12, 2014

Angelina Jolie’s film “Unbroken,” which depicts the life of World War II hero and U.S. Olympian Louis Zamperini, is facing a boycott campaign in Japan over claims made in the 2010 Laura Hillenbrand book it used for inspiration.

A publicity shot from Angeline Jolie's 'Unbroken'

Mutsuhiro Takeuchi, a nationalist-leaning educator and a priest in the traditional Shinto religion, is part of a campaign to get the film — and possibly the director — banned in Japan because of claims that some Japanese resulted to cannibalism during the war. “There was absolutely no cannibalism,” Mr. Takeuchi said, The Associated Press reported Friday. “That is not our custom.”

In Ms. Hillenbrand’s book, she says, “Japan murdered thousands of POWs on death marches, and worked thousands of others to death in slavery, including some 16,000 POWs who died alongside as many as 100,000 Asian laborers forced to build the Burma-Siam Railway. Thousands of other POWs were beaten, burned, stabbed, or clubbed to death, shot, beheaded, killed during medical experiments, or eaten alive in ritual acts of cannibalism.”

Mr. Takeuchi’s message for Ms. Jolie was for her to study history, AP reported. He asserted that Japanese war criminals were charged with political crimes — not torture. “Even Japanese don’t know their own history so misunderstandings arise,” Mr. Takeuchi said, AP reported. He currently heads a research organization called The Japan Culture Intelligence Association.

“Unbroken” will be released in the U.S. on Dec. 25.

Kami return

January 7, 2015 / John D. / 0 Comments

There was a happy Christmas at Ujigami Shrine near Kyoto, for the kami there were restored to their home after being relocated during the extensive repairs carried out. There is often speculation about the nature and location of kami since they are spirits and thereby immaterial. However, Shinto tradition ascribes their unseen presence to ‘spirit-bodies’ (goshintai) within the shrine. These are sacred vessels of some kind into which the spirit descends, typically a mirror but anything from a rock to a doll to a sword.

Relocation of the ‘spirit-body’ is done with great veneration and in secrecy, typically involving a white sheet to shroud the objects from view. What made the occasion special in this case is that the relatively small Ujigami Shrine is a World Heritage Site because of its sanctuary (honden) being the oldest such building still in existence.

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Kyoto shrine celebrates return of venerated religious objects after repair work
December 25, 2014 By TAKU KOYAMA/ Staff Writer, Asahi Shinbun

UJI, Kyoto Prefecture–Ujigamijinja shrine, a World Heritage site, held a ceremony Dec. 24 to celebrate the return of sacred deities to its main hall following year-long restoration work.

The torii entrance to the small shrine of Ujigami and a World Heritage Site

The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Ojin and his sons, the imperial prince Uji no Wakiiratsuko and Emperor Nintoku.

The main hall, believed to have been built in the late Heian Period (794-1185), is the oldest example of Shinto shrine architecture.

The latest repairs included the re-thatching of the cypress bark roof, its first restoration in more than 30 years, and the re-painting of walls.

The restoration work follows the completion in September of major repairs at Byodoin temple’s Phoenix Hall, which is located on the opposite shore of the Ujigawa river. Byodoin temple, founded in 1053, is also a World Heritage site.

The festival at Ujigamijinja shrine began shortly after 7 p.m. when chief priest Toru Miyamura, 65, quietly carried the three sacred objects, symbolizing Ojin and his two sons, to the main hall.

“I cannot put my feelings into words,” Miyamura said. “With major repairs completed here and at Byodoin temple, it is as if spring has come at once.”

Ujigamijinja was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site as one of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto” in 1994.

People queue up at New Year to pay respects at the Honden, the country's oldest

Hatsumode in the snow

January 4, 2015 / John D. / 3 Comments

I’ve been told that the New Year snowfall in Kyoto has been the largest for over 50 years. It may have created discomfort for some, but it gave the city a suitably wintry garb and made this year’s ‘first visit to the shrine’ (hatsumode) something special.

I paid a visit to nearby Shimogamo Shrine, which was comfortably crowded and full of atmosphere (unlike the more popular Fushimi Inari which by all accounts is most uncomfortably crowded). Steaming stalls set up beneath the sheltering Tadasu no mori trees beckoned visitors as they made their way into the shrine, which unusually boasts shrines dedicated to the animals of the Chinese Zodiac cycle. The queue to pay respects to the two main kami stretched out of the inner compound, and there were long queues too both at the ‘enmusubi‘ (love connection) shrine and for the warming hot sweet saké laced with ginger (amazaké). The good mood was contagious, as if the white purity of the snow helped provide an extra element of joy.

The shrine stands amongst woodland at the junction of the Kamo and Takano rivers

There was a festive feel for this year's hatsumode...

... and the woods looked pristine

An attractive temporary temizuya was set up...

... and a large fire kept people in a warm and jovial mood

There were queues for the Chinese zodiac shrines

... and young people at the enmusubi (love connection) shrine

Fortune-telling was a big draw (literally!)

Some needed help reading their fate

Meanwhile, the Mitarashi subshrine was a haven of tranquility in the afternoon sunlight. The purity of the water it stands over was enhanced by the fresh chill of the melting snow.

Baskets of white stones told of the coming ceremony this year to complete the 'shikinen sengu' cycle of repair and restoration currently being carried out at the World Heritage shrine.

And to finish off the visit a couple of cups of delicious warm ginger saké. The year of the sheep promises to be a good one!!

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For more photos of the shrine in snow, see the Deep Kyoto post here.

Mochi blessing

January 3, 2015 / John D. / 6 Comments

Kagami mochi offered to the kami at Yabuhara Jinja in Nagano Prefecture

Kagami mochi (mirror rice cake) is traditionally associated with the New Year. It consists of two rice cakes, a small one atop a larger one, surmounted by a daidai bitter orange. Rice was traditionally Japan’s sacred food, and it’s thought mochi was a food which gives strength for the coming year. It is offered to the kami in homes and shrines, and Green Shinto is delighted this year to have been honoured by the Yabuhara Shrine with a kagami mochi in the name of its owner, John Dougill. Also honoured was conductor Douglas Bostok, whose Shinto interests and altar were featured in an earlier posting. Our thanks to Masatsugu Okutani for this special privilege, who writes as follows:

Kagami-Mochi is the round shaped rice cakes which are traditionally offered to sanctuaries in Japan on the occasion of the New Year to wish all the happiness and good health among families (“Kagami” means mirror, and the white color of round rice cakes indicate pureness). This year, there were Kagami-mochi offerings from France and UK which is the first time since the foundation of the sanctuary in 680. We thank you very much for all the offers from France and UK as well as local offers.

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Wikipedia has this to say on the subject:

The kagami mochi first appeared in the Muromachi period (14th-16th century). The name kagami (“mirror”) is said to have originated from its resemblance to an old-fashioned kind of round copper mirror, which also had a religious significance. The reason for it is not clear. Explanations include mochi being a food for sunny days, the ‘spirit’ of the rice plant being found in the mochi, and the mochi being a food which gives strength.

A kagami mochi offering from France at the Yabuhara Jinja

The two mochi discs are variously said to symbolize the going and coming years, the human heart, “yin” and “yang”, or the moon and the sun. The daidai, whose name means “generations”, is said to symbolize the continuation of a family from generation to generation.

Traditionally the kagami mochi was placed in various locations throughout the house. Nowadays it is usually placed in a household Shinto altar, or kamidana. It has also been placed in the tokonoma, a small decorated alcove in the main room of the home.

Contemporary kagami mochi are often pre-moulded into the shape of stacked discs and sold in plastic packages in the supermarket. A mikan or a plastic imitation daidai is often substituted for the original daidai.

Variations in the shape of kagami mochi are also seen. In some regions, three layered kagami mochi are also used. The three layered kagami mochi are placed on the butsudan or on the kamidana. There is also a variant decoration called an okudokazari placed in the centre of the kitchen or by the window which has three layers of mochi.

It is traditionally broken and eaten in a Shinto ritual called kagami biraki (mirror opening) on the second Saturday or Sunday of January. This is an important ritual in Japanese martial arts dojos. It was first adopted into Japanese martial arts when Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, adopted it in 1884, and since then the practice has spread to aikido, karate and jujutsu studios.

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For more about New Year decorations, click here. For New Year customs in general, see here.

A Wikicommons picture of a gorgeously decorated kagami mochi such that the actual rice cakes are barely visible, defeating the purpose one might say