biyoo - praying for beauty

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biyoo jisha 美容寺社 praying for beauty

Next to prayers for good health, prayers for a beautiful face, skin or body were quite popular.

. kami no ke kigan no jisha 髪の毛祈願の寺社 for beautiful hair .

. bijin 美人 beauty - beauty amulet 美守 .


. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja　神社) - Introduction .


- - - - - List of shrines and temples to pray for beauty !

- under construction -
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- Shrines -

. Hine Jinja 日根神社 .
大阪府泉佐野市日根野631 - Osaka, Izumisano
anmin 安眠 to pray for beauty sleep and also for couples to get a child.
makura matsuri まくら祭り pillow festival


. Itsukushima 厳島神社 .
栃木県足利市本城2丁目1855 - Tochigi, Ashikaga
Bijin Benten 美人弁天 Benten for Beauty / Akashi Benten 明石弁天


. Kiyomizu Sha 清水社 Kiyomizu Shrine .
in the compound of 熱田神宮 Atsuta Jingu
愛知県名古屋市熱田区神宮1-1-1 - Aichi, Nagoya
o shimizu お清水 sacred clear water for beautiful skin, healing eye disease and good luck.


. Matsushima Jinja 松島神社 .
東京都中央区日本橋人形町2-15-2 - Tokyo
ryoomu fuda 良夢札 amulet for a good dream and beauty


. Suga Jinja 須賀神社 . - Kyoto
kesoobumi 懸想文 love letter


. Toyotama Hime Jinja 豊玉姫神社 Shrine for Princess Toyotama .
bihada no kamisama 美肌の神様 deity for beautiful skin


. Toyomitsu Jinja 豊満神社 . - Shiga
滋賀県愛知郡愛荘町豊満392 - Shiga
yooshi koojoo 容姿向上 to pray for improvement of female style
bijin omamori 美人守 amulet for beauty



. Umezono Tenmanguu 梅園天満宮 .
長崎県長崎市丸山町2-20 - Nagasaki, Maruyama
egao bijin 笑顔美人 for a smiling beautyful face

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- Temples -


. Banryuuji 蟠竜寺 Banryu-Ji “Coiling Dragon Temple”.
東京都目黒区下目黒3-4-4 - Kyoto
O-shiroi Jizoo おしろい地蔵 "Jizo with a white make-up face"



. Gyokuhooji 玉鳳寺 Gyokuho-Ji .
東京都港区三田4-11-19 - Tokyo, Mita
Keshoo Jizoo 化粧地蔵 Kesho Jizo Bosatsu with make-up
- and more Jizo with painted faces



. Kawasaki Daishi 川崎大師 Daishi temple in Kawasaki .
shoozuka no baasan しょうづかの婆さん "the Old Hag of Hell "



. Komachidera 小町寺 - Ono no Komachi 小野 小町 -.
temple Fudara-Ji 補陀洛寺 in Kyoto

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Nariaiji 成相寺 Nariai-Ji
京都府宮津市成相寺339 - Kyoto
The main statue is a Bijin Kannon 美人観音 "Beautiful Kannon Bosatsu"



Temple Nr. 28 on the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage.
Located above Ama no Hashidate, Amanohashidate


bijin Kannon o-mamori 美人観音御守


- quote
Nariaiji Temple (成相寺) is a temple of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. The temple was originally located near the top of Mount Tsuzumigatake overlooking Miyazu Bay in the north, but was moved about 250 years ago to its current location further down the mountain after a landslide. The current temple grounds are still high enough on the slope that there are good viewpoints from where you can look out over the Amanohashidate Sandbar below.

Nariaiji Temple is part of the 33 Kannon Temples of Western Japan, a pilgrimage route to various temples across the region that are dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. Appropriately the main treasure of Nariaji Temple is a carved wooden statue of Kannon that dates from the Heian Period.

Below the main hall is a small wooden bell tower containing the "bell of neutrality". The bell is completely enclosed in its tower and has never been struck due to the sad legend about its origins concerning a baby that was accidentally dropped into the molten metal that was cast into the bell. A little further down the slope is an impressive five story pagoda. The bright red structure is built in the Kamakura architectural style, and was also formerly located higher up the mountain before it was restored and moved to its current spot in the late 1990s.
- source : www.japan-guide.com





yubiwa omamori ゆびわお守り fingerring amulet
avoid disaster, lower blood pressure, helps stomach ilness and more




On the 9th of August, there is a special ritual
sennichi mairi　千日まいり　"1000 days worth of temple visit"
If you visit on this day, you get the merit of one thousand days from Kannon san.

８月９日は千日さんといわれ
- Homepage of the temple
- source : www.nariaiji.jp


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- - - - - Reference

- source : www.advice-navi.com/beauty

- source : sp.walkerplus.com/newyear

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Mikado Jinja

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Mikado Jinja 神門神社 / 神門（みかど）神社

This shrine is located in Misato Cho, Mikado village 美郷町南郷区神門 in the north of Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu.
In this shrine a Korean Emperor has become the main deity for more than 1000 years. 禎嘉帝 Teika-O, also known as Kudara no Ookimi, Kudara no Miko 百済王. When the Emperor lost his power to the enemies, he and his family fled to Japan and settled in the Nara region. After more troubles they ended up in Miyazaki, Kyushu.
Their ships got into a storm, and Father Teika-O landed at Kanegahama beach in now hyuuga town 日向市の金ヶ浜f, while his sun Fukuchi-O landed at Kaguchi-Ura near Takanabe village 高鍋町の蚊口浦. But they were found out by their enemy and Taika-O died by an arrow during a battle. His son Kachi-O 華智王 also died during this battle.

According to the local legend, the shrine has been built in 718 - 養老２年. It preserves a lot of treasures with a Korean flavor.

At the shrine Hiki Jinja 比木神社 in 木城町, the deity Fukuchi-O 福智王, the eldest son of Teika-O, is venerated.
He goes to visit his father at Mikado Jinja during a special festival parade once a year.



The simple shrine is located in a lonely pine forest and tended to by the local people. It is supposed to be the former residence of Teika-O.
Most of its history is still shrouded in mystery.

It preserves part of the nature worship of ancient religions.

- reference : www.gurunet-miyazaki.com


shiwasu matsuri 師走祭り ／神門御神幸 Shiwasu festival
December in the old lunar calendar, now on the last weekend in January.

One of the most impressive "fire festivals" of Japan.
Along the road where the god travels to visit his father, there are 32 (?12) huge bonfires of pine branches, which produce large pillars of fire (hibashira) and sparks for the participants to purify their body and soul.
During some parts of the festival, the participating villagers are not allowed to talk.

Priests take the object of veneration out of Hiki shrine and carry it along a road of 90 km (23 里) to Mikado shrine - agari mashi 上りまし .
In former times it took 10 days to reach Mikado Shrine.
On the first day near Mikado shrine for this procession, 32 huge bonfires to welcome him are lit along the way - mukaebi 迎え火.
These fires date back to the legend of Teika-O and the battle where he found his death, when they had lit many fires to distract and ward off the enemy.

One priest carries the box with the "Deity" on a spear hoko 鉾 on his back. This is said to be the beginning of a mikoshi procession with a portable shrine.
A lot of hoko have therefore been given as offerings to this shrine (more that 1000 . . .)



On the second day 18 elected men from the village have to take water ablutions in the nearby river, to "wash the robes" - o-i arai お衣洗い / 洗濯神事, because the robes of the deity had been changed at his arrival at Mikado Shrine.
Masumi Taro 益見太郎 was the local clan leader who had helped Taika-O to hide. At his grave mound Don Taro san mairi ドンタロさん参り is now performed.
Kagura dances are also performed till late in the night.



On the third day the son is paraded back to his own shrine - kudari mashi 下りまし. On this day people paint each other's faces black with charcoal from the hearth - heguro nuri へぐろ塗り and must laugh a lot and make merry, even if they feel sad that the deity is leaving already.
Half way the villagers of Mikado shrine have to stop and can only wave to the departing procession. They carry pans and pots and wave and make noise and shout "Osarabaa" オサラバー (Good bye) as long as they can see the parade.
This is the origin of the word osaraba.
SARA is a Korean word meaning "Please stay alive and come back to meet us again!"

- - - Look here for more photos:
- source : www.gurunet-miyazaki.com

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- quote
Evidence of the Baekje royal family legend Shiwasu Matsuri
The Baekje royal family legend is a lore explaining how the members of the Baekje royal family, who were conquered in the Korean Peninsula and separately drifted to seashores of Miyazaki, meet once a year, and it is the Shiwasu Matsuri festival that reproduces this legend. This film is a record of all the stages of this festival that has been held for the last 1300 years until the present day. At present, Teikaoh, the father of the Baekje royal family, is enshrined to Mikado Shrine and Fukuchioh, the son, is enshrined to Hiki Shrine, as a deity, respectively.

The Shiwasu Matsuri festival, held at the end of January every year, takes a ritual form in which the object of the worship of Fukuchioh, son, and the object of the worship of Teikaoh, father, meet each other once a year, and ceremonies of praying for abundant crops and calamity elimination and prevention, safety delivery, and others are combined with this legend to form one festival.
- source : bunkashisan.ne.jp


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source :　www.pref.miyazaki.lg.jp

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- quote
比木神社　Hiki-jinja　Hiki Shrine
It is said that several members of the royalty and high-ranked warriors of Baekje, an ancient kingdom located in southwest Korea, came to Japan in exile after they were defeated by the alloed forces of Tang and Silla. One of them Prince Fukuchi (in Japanese) arrived at Kaguchiura in present Takanabe Town in 660 and lived in the town of Kijo 木城町.
The place where his house was located was called Hiki (火棄) by local people.

Tough unable to understand their language, local people respected the prince and his retainers, who had high level of knowledge. After the prince died, he was enshrined as Hiki Daimyojin. In 852, the kanji representing its name were changed to “比木” and Hiki Shrine was established.



Prince Fukuchi at Hiki Shrine and his father, Prince Teika enshrined at Mikado Shrine meet each other once a year at Shiwasu Festival of Mikado Shrine. It is a Shinto ritual to console the princes and their royal retainers, who had to leave their homeland and lost their lives in a foreign country.
1306 Shiinoki, Kijo-cho, Koyu-gun, Miyazaki Prefecture 884-0102
- source : nippon-kichi.jp


- further reference -
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. hi matsuri　火祭り fire festivals of Japan .


. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja　神社) - Introduction .


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kami no i - sacred well

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kami no i 神の井 well of the deity, sacred well

some sources quote this as a hot spring 温泉をいう.

Many shrines have a sacred well in the precincts. Some come with a local legend of their beginning.


source :　www.visit-oita.jp
at Saiki 佐伯市大字日向泊 in Oita

On the small island there was no well and therefore the legendary Emperor Jinmu Tenno 神武天皇 landed on the island, drew his bow and where the arrow hit now is this well.

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source :　www.mukasiya.jp

神の井酒造（株）
Takami-２５ Odakacho, Midori Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture

a famous sake from Nagoya 純米酒

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. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja　神社) - Introduction .


. WKD : well and well-cleaning .


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神の井やあかねにけぶる冬木の芽
kami no i ya akane ni keburu fuyuki no me

well of the gods -
the buds of winter trees
in soft red haze

Kadokawa Genyoshi 角川源義 (1917 - 1975)


- source : seppa06/0803
at Mount Tsukuba Shrine 筑波山神社
with a memorial stone of this haiku


. WKD : Mount Tsukuba 筑波山 Tsukuba-san .

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早乙女や神の井をくむ二人づれ
saotome ya kami no i o kumu futari-zure

rice-planting women -
two of them draw water
from the sacred well

. Iida Dakotsu 飯田蛇笏 .



. WKD : saotome 早乙女 rice-planting woman .
kigo for summer


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神の井の垣へ散りたる椎の花
kami no i no kaki e chiritaru shii no hana

from the hedge
of the sacred well scatter blossoms
of the Shii oak

Masumoto Yukihiro 升本行洋


. WKD : shii no hana 椎の花 Shii oak blossoms .
Castanopsis cuspidata



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taisai - major festival

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taisai 大祭　 major festival, major rites, Grand Festival



- quote
Taisai
One division of shrine rites, conducted in the form of major festivals. After the Meiji Restoration, these observances became regulated under government ordinance, and since 1945 they have been specified in the Regulations of Shrine Observances (Jinja saishi kitei) of the Association of Shinto Shrines (jinja honchō). The Regulations divide taisai into
reisai　例祭, kinensai　記念祭, niinamesai 新嘗祭, shikinensai, chinzasai, senzasai, gōshisai, bunshisai, and rites based on special shrine traditions.

The standard for taisai is set by rites with a public character and a long history, such as those involving the transfer of a deity, festivals closely connected to the enshrined deity or the origin of a shrine. The instructions for such rites are set out in the Jinja saishiki, which specifies in detail how the rites are to be conducted.

The system of categorizing rites by their content and size goes back to the Ritsuryō period. According to the Jingiryō code for shrine rites,
"taishi are rites celebrated during an entire month, while chūshi last three days and shōshi only one day."

The rites are differentiated by the length of the period of abstinence that must be observed before it. The only large-scale rite mentioned for its especially important significance is the daijōsai (sokui), which is conducted as part of the ceremonies for imperial accession and is codified in the Engishiki. In the Ordinance of Imperial Household Rites (Kōshitsu saishi rei) of 1908, rites are divided into major (taisai) and minor (shōsai).

Taisai are the rites in which "the emperor leads the imperial family and government officials" and include genshisai, kigensetsu, spring and autumn kōreisai, spring and autumn shindensai, Jinmu tennōsai, kannamesai, niinamesai, senteisai (rites for the previous emperor), rites for the previous three generations of emperors, rites for the previous empress and rites for the previous empress dowager.

The daijōsai is not prescribed in the Kōshitsu saishirei, but instead in the Ordinance on Ascension to the Throne (tōkyokurei). As a very important rite celebrated only once per imperial reign, the daijōsai is treated in the Ordinance as representing a special category by itself.
- source : Mogi Sadasumi , Kokugakuin


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. Hachinohe Sansha Taisai 八戸三社大祭 Hachinohe Sansha Grand Festival . Aomori

. hatsu tatsu taisai 初辰大祭 Grand Festival on the first day of the dragon in January .
at Kifune Shrine 貴船神社 Kurama

. Izumo taisha 出雲大社 Izumo Grand Shrine - tai sai .

. Korei taisai 古例大祭 at Taga Taisha 多賀大社 Great Taga Shrine .

. Osorezan Taisai 恐山大祭 Great Festival at Mount Osorezan .

. Shinkoshiki Taisai 神幸式大祭 Procession of Gods Festival .
at Dazaifu matsuri 大宰府祭 Dazaifu festival - for Sugawara Michizane

. Shuki Taisai - Autumn Festival 秋季大祭 at Tamaki Jinja 玉置神社, Nara .

. Warei taisai 和霊大祭 Great Festival at Warei Shrine . Ehime


- Reference : 日本語

- Reference : English


. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja　神社) - Introduction .


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- - - - -　 H A I K U　 - - - - -

港に鱶は老い遠き海の大祭
hama ni fuka wa oi tooki umi no taisai

at the port
an old big shark far away
at the Great Sea Festival

Takayanagi Juushin 高柳重信 Takayanagi Jushin

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. . daijoosai, daijōsai 大嘗祭 Shinto Harvest Thanksgiving Ritual . .
- - - - - niiname no matsuri 新嘗祭 Niiname-Sai
- - - - - niinamesai 新嘗祭 harvest thanksgiving festival


奉納の繭も慈姑も新嘗祭
三谷いちろ


灯れる新嘗祭の二重橋
京極杞陽


医王晴れ新嘗祭の太鼓鳴る
前田時余


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reisai 例祭 annual festival



- quote
Reisai
The annual ‘major festival' (taisai) of a shrine, held on a day related either to the enshrined deity or the origin of the shrine. The term reisai is relatively recent.

In ancient times this festival was distinguished from other rites held throughout the year by using the honorific terms ōmatsuri ('great festival') or onmatsuri, or by associating it directly with the name of the shrine, as in Kasuga-sai, Kamo-sa and Iwashimizu-sai. Occurrences of the term reisai in illustrated guidebooks of the Edo period indicate that use of the word was widespread by this time, such festivals being perceived as differing from others.

Under the shrine system of the Meiji period, the kinensai, niinamesai and other rites were classified as taisai, and ceremonies in which emissaries (chokushi or heihaku kyōshinshi) made offerings were held at various shrines ranking from ‘government shrines' (kanpeisha) down to village shrines.

Given that reisai are held on days that have a special connection to the enshrined deity or the origins of the shrine, the dates of their celebration cannot be changed without special reasons. The reisai of some of the most prominent shrines are:

Kashihara Jingū (February 11), Kasuga Taisha (March 13), Katori Jingū (April 14), Heian Jingū (April 15), Ōmi Jingū (April 20), Izumo Taisha (May 14), Kamowake Ikazuchi Jinja and Kamo no Mioya Jinja (May 15), Atsuta Jingū (June 5), Hikawa Jinja (August 1), Kashima Jingū (September 1), Iwashimizu Hachimangū (September 15), and Meiji Jingū (November 3).

The Grand Shrines of Ise do not have a designated reisai, but the kannamesai of October 17, with its close association with the enshrined deity, is probably its closest equivalent. Although the system of making offerings from public funds was abolished after the war, imperial emissaries still visit shrines on the occasion of the hōbeisai.

Furthermore, the tradition is being continued by the Association of Shinto Shrines, which sends its own emissaries with offerings (honchōhei). The Association also attaches special importance to the dates designated for reisai, which cannot be changed without its approval.
- source : Motegi Sadasumi, Kokugakuin


. hōbei, hoobei 奉幣 offerings from Grand Ise Shrine 伊勢神宮.
kannamesai 神嘗祭, kanname no matsuri kannie no matsuri. shinjoosai しんじょうさい
kanname 神嘗 - kamunie, kamuname

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. shooreisai 松例祭 Shōreisai, pine torch festival .
at Mount Haguro




松例祭火の粉が落す杉の雪
升本行洋

松例祭火事装束の大目付
三原清暁

松例祭闇に羽黒の天狗翔ぶ
高木金男

桟俵被る阿呆や松例祭
棚山波朗

満願の髭がほころぶ松例祭
神林久子

身の丈を舞ひ飛ぶ修験松例祭
阿部月山子

とんぶりの握飯賜はる松例祭
高木良多

大梵天立ちて始まる松例祭
粕谷容子

天焦がす対の火柱松例祭
阿部月山子


. WKD : reisai 例祭 annual festivals .


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