Tag: purification

Japan by Train 12: Toyama

July 29, 2022 / John D. / 0 Comments

In surveys about the quality of life, Toyama Prefecture is always near the top, thanks to the prosperity and pleasant environment. The town is located by the side of a bay, with spectacular views of the Japan Alps. The combination of sea and mountains means the fish is fresher, the air cleaner and the water clearer than pretty much anywhere in Japan.

Apart from the castle, the shrines and the temples, there are any number of well-endowed art galleries and culture halls, which owe themselves to a generous level of funding derived from the prefecture’s industries – pharmaceuticals, electronic parts and metal products. The town’s leading attraction is a Glass Art Museum, housed in a light and airy building worth seeing in itself. Designed by famous architect, Kengo Kuma, the building is shared with the city library, which explains the number of visitors who carry books and never show up in the museum. The exhibitions can be dazzling, but the highlight is invariably the spectacular Glass Art Garden by master artist, Dale Chihuly. Even those uninterested in glass tned to be wowed.

The prefecture’s Mt Tateyama is one of Japan’s ‘three holy mountains’ (together with Fuji and Hakusan). At the top, a Shinto priest waves a purification stick over bowed heads. In my early days in Japan this was puzzling to me, so I asked the priest to explain. ‘You pay me money and I purify you,’ he said. ‘I see,’ I replied, ‘but is there something more? For example, rules on how to behave in everyday life.’ There was a short pause. ‘Yes,’ came the answer, ‘you pay me and I purify you.’

At the time I thought the answer amusing. Later, as I came to understand more about primal religions, I realised he was right. The concern is not with morality, but with harmonising with the spirit world. Whereas the material world is characterised by disease and decay, the spirit world is free of taint. Pure purity, in other words. The waving of the magic wand is the Japanese acknowledgement of what Arthur Koestler called ‘the ghost in the machine’, the animating spirit that lies within the physical body. Here at the top of the mountain the priest was evoking oneness with the universe.

Voted Japan’s best Starbucks, it stands next to the canal a few minutes walk from the station

First steps in Shinto

February 17, 2019 / John D. / 0 Comments

Learning how to pay respects is an important first step into the world of Shinto.

I remember the first training I had in Shinto. We started off by visiting shrines and discussing what we saw: I’d ask questions, my partner would explain, and I’d ask for clarifications. Bit by bit, my questions grew more informed and her explanations more detailed.

We started off with simple things such as the names of shrine buildings and how to tell the Honden (where the ‘body’ of the kami resides) from the Haiden (the Worship Hall where prayers are said). The Sanctuary for the seat of the kami is raised higher than the Worship Hall to show respect, just as in rooms for the shogun or feudal lords the most elevated position is reserved for the one with the highest status. You look up to them – literally. (Interestingly ‘kami’ in Japanese can mean ‘upper’ or ‘higher’, though linguists say the derivation is different.)

One of the key points in these shrine visits was paying respects in the proper manner. Concern with correctness is a key Japanese trait, and I couldn’t help wondering if the Shinto insistence on the right form lay at the root of it. For example, when entering the shrine, you should make for the temizuya, or basin for hand washing. This is a symbolic purification to show respect for the kami, whose pure nature would be despoiled by contamination.

By washing your hands, you show your sincerity; in a sense you are washing your heart-mind. But you cannot just splash the water over yourself in any old way, for this being Japan there’s a prescribed procedure. First you take the wooden dipper with your right hand and ladle water onto the left, then you switch hands and ladle water onto your right hand. Finally you hold the dipper again in your right hand, pour some water into your left hand, and with that wash out your mouth. Then holding the dipper upright so the remaining water runs down the handle and cleanses it for the next person, you replace it back in its proper place across the top of the rock basin.

My companion watched me do this with keen attention, pointing out where I could have done better. The devil lies in the detail runs an English saying, but here the detail was very much the way to the divine. The style of worship too was tightly prescribed. First a slight bow, then a rattling of the bell to alert the kami before tossing coins into the offering box, following which there was a ritualistic 2-2-1 procedure; two bows, two claps, one bow. Here again form was all-important. Another key aspect of Japanese culture, I thought to myself…

(by John Dougill)

Pure spring water for purification prior to praying

Instructions for non-Japanese on how to do the symbolic purification

The tourist boom has led to multilingual explanations. Ten years ago there would have been no information in English.

The torii reexamined

September 15, 2018 / John D. / 2 Comments

The famous torii tunnel at Fushimi beckons the visitor ever further into the other world

There’s nothing so evocative of Japan as the torii. The stylised gateway is a thing of beauty in itself, but it’s also a symbolic opening that suggests entrance into a different realm. It’s not intended to keep anyone out, and it’s not intended to prevent ingress. Typical of Japanese aesthetics, it frames emptiness – an invisible gate for invisible spirits. The marker divides the sacred from the profane, beckoning the visitor to enter into a special realm. It’s impossible to resist the feeling of being drawn into a different dimension, for it marks the point where this world and the spirit world abut one another. Some say that passing between the pillars is a form of purification in itself, as if there’s a spiritual charge running between them.

Passing between posts is reminiscent of our first entry into the world, and calls us back home as it were by inviting us to seek re-entry into the womb. In casting off the cares of our material world, we return to that garden of Eden before we attained consciousness and self-awareness. We become children – children of the kami.

If you took an aerial photograph of a typical shrine and looked at the layout, you’d see the distinct shape of a uterus. From the vulvic entrance represented by the torii runs a pathway through the woods to a womb-like opening in which stand the shrine buildings. Within that womb is a vertical dimension from which the kami descend as agents of the life-force. Yin and yang are symbolised in the open and closed mouths of the pair of guardian creatures, and the five elements conspire to produce a harmonious whole – wood in the shrine buildings; air in the freshness of the woods; earth in the ground below; fire in the flame that lights the lanterns; running water in the temizuya, and metal in the dragon that feeds it.

Here in the creation of a sacred realm is where spiritual and material worlds come together. The visitors proceed along a horizontal plane, the kami descends unseen on a vertical axis. Refreshed by the encounter, the visitor returns to the world ostensibly the same but reborn in spirit. What better way to mark this magical encounter than with a torii. There is pure nothingness, yet the outer form marks an inner transformation.

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For a piece about the origins of the torii, please see here. There’s more on the subject, with reference to a Kansai Scene article, on this page.

Busha Shinji (Pre-Aoi archery)

May 9, 2018 / John D. / 0 Comments

The Aoi Festival is one of Kyoto’s Big Three Festivals, though if like me you appreciate authenticity over pageantry you might say it’s one of Kyoto’s Big Two (together with Gion Matsuri in July). Like the Gion Festival, there are a lot of pre-events and preparatory rites before the main event, which consists of a long procession.

One of the pre-events for the Aoi Festival main procession (May 15) is the Busha Shinji on May 5, an auspicious date for purification by arrows. This follows the purification by water a couple of days earlier of the governing ‘saio’ or vestal virgin.

Purifying the compound. This arrow was launched over the entrance gate to dispell any lurking evil spirits.

This year’s event was carried out by the Ogasawara-ryu School of Archery, some of whom were venerable enough to nod off during proceedings.

Paying respects

The priestly officials supervising the occasion, with trademark aoi (hollyhock) leaves on their hats

Getting set and taking aim is done in deliberate ritual fashion

As in Japanese culture generally, precision, respect, care, harmony and concentration are the guiding principles

Shoulders are exposed for the firing of the arrows

Drawing the arrow to its full length requires strength and endurance. Such was the tautness that hands were visibly shaking. Most scored a direct hit on the target, representing a direct hit on any evil spirit that might have been planning to pollute the proceedings.

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For an earlier posting on this event, please see this link: https://www.greenshinto.com/2013/05/06/shimogamo-archery-pre-aoi-55/

Onsen Purification

March 16, 2018 / John D. / 0 Comments

Onsen purification

Posted on February 11, 2018 by John D.

This week Green Shinto is pleased to host an item by contributor, Sally Writes (photos by John Dougill)

Tamatsukuri Onsen is a charming hot spring resort either side of a small stream and boasting ‘the biggest magatama in Japan’

Going with the flow: Onsen hot springs as part of Shinto
Wherever your destination in Japan, you are sure to encounter an onsen – or several. These natural hot spring bathing facilities are scattered across the country, taking advantage of the geothermically active landscape. Some are outdoors, some indoors, some attached to large hotels and others in secluded natural settings – but all are part of the ritual cleanliness which permeates all of Japan’s society. Shintoism is based around ideas of purification and cleanliness, as opposed to the dirtiness associated with ‘pollution’. Water and its cleansing properties is seen as central to their way of life.

Hot spring water basin, highly welcome in winter

The importance of water and washing
There are several different ways in which cleansing with water is practised in Shintoism – ranging from ‘harae’ – the washing of hands and face – to the full-body cold-water immersion of ‘misogi’. It is considered optimal to use natural, free-flowing water such as a stream, waterfall, or the sea; and while you may be forgiven for thinking that the water at the hot springs will be purified like a swimming pool, it is the free-flowing nature of onsens which keeps fresh water in the pools and gives them their purifying qualities.

Onsens for Shinto purification
The deep cleansing soak of an onsen is about more than just getting physically clean: you will generally have to wash at a normal shower before entering the hot springs. The act of soaking in the gently flowing, hot mineral water helps to cleanse your soul too. It may be accompanied by chanting or meditation practises designed to clear the mind. This purification means that you can live a more spiritual and balanced life in harmony with the surrounding teachings of Shinto and the natural world.

Kuwayu hot spring
(courtesy of Wakayama tourist board)

The science behind it
The physical benefits of onsen bathing are also attractive, if you are not a practicer of shinto yourself. Onsens range in temperature from around 30 degrees upwards. This heat helps to improve blood circulation and metabolism, and literally take the weight off your feet as you can relax and let the water support you. The hot springs also contain different minerals, which should be listed on the outside of the onsen. Compounds useful for healing bruises and dermatitis and easing joint pain include calcium chloride, sulfate ions, and sodium chloride.

Whether you are keen to try the rituals of Shintoism to experience the cleansing of mind and body, or if you would just like a comfortable afternoon soaking in a natural hot spring, the benefits of Japan’s onsens are enjoyable for all.

Kawayu Onsen in Wakayama, the world’s only World Heritage hot spring open to the public

Torii at Unzen in Kyushu where a shrine sanctifies the awesome power of the hot spring