24/11/2013

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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11/11/2013

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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- - - - -  H A I K U  - - - - -

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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07/11/2013

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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19/10/2013

Nakayama Jinja Tsuyama

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Nakayama Jinja 中山神社 - and - Saru Jinja 猿神社

岡山県津山市一宮695 Okayama, Tsuyama town

The first shrine of Mimasaka no Kuni 美作国一宮.
Also called Chuuzen or Chuuzan.



中山神社(なかやまじんじゃ)は、岡山県津山市一宮にある神社。式内社(名神大社)、美作国一宮。

社名は現在「なかやま」と読むが、かつては「ちゅうぜん」「ちゅうざん」と音読みしていた。
別称として
仲山大明神、南宮とも。


- - - - - Deities in Residence
Kagami Tsukuri no kami 鏡作神 Deity for making mirrors
Ame no Nukado no kami 天糠戸神 (あめのぬかどのかみ)(Ame-no-nuka-do-no kami)
- - - - (father of Ishikoridome)
Ishikoridome no kami 石凝姥神 (いしこりどめのかみ)(Ishi-kori-dome-no-kami)
- - - - the Deity of Rice Cakes
- see below -


Built in 707, on the third day of the 4th lunar month.



In the precincts is a huge keyaki tree. 祝木のケヤキ / 欅 zelkova tree
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. keyaki 欅 伝説 Legends about the Zelkova tree .


. 天児屋根神 / 天児屋根命 / 天児屋命 Amanokoyane no Mikoto  .


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- quote
Said to have been built in 707, this is the Ichinomiya shrine of the Mimasaka Province. It has been known as the deity of cows and horses since ancient times.
The main shrine was rebuilt by Amako Haruhisa in 1559 and has been designated as a national important cultural property.
The characteristic shrine architecture can be seen in the hip-and-gable roof structure and the entrance on the gable side. This architectural structure is called "Nakayama-zukuri" and is the main current of shrine architecture in the Mimasaka region.

The shrine gate has been designated as an important cultural property by Tsuyama City and was made by dismantling and reconstructing the Shikyaku-mon gate (style with four supporting pillars and a gabled roof) of Tsuyama Castle.

The rear shrine is a monkey shrine that appeared in the Konjaku Monogatari (31-volume collection of stories written during the late Heian period).

The Otaue Festival (seasonal planting of rice on a field affiliated with a shrine), held on April 29, is a festival to pray for a bountiful crop that features a dance of male and female lions accompanied by flutes and drums, and a performance by farmers waving their hoes around as if planting rice in the fields.
- source : www.tsuyama-kanko.jp

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Saru Jinja 猿神社



- quote
The monkey messenger is also known as Sarugami (猿神; literally “monkey kami”). Sarugami is the Shinto deity to whom the three monkeys (hear, speak, see no evil) are reportedly faithful.
The monkey shrine at Nakayama Shrine 中山神社 in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture, is dedicated to a red monkey named Sarugami, who blesses couples with children.

According to shrine legends, the local people at one time offered human sacrifices (using females) to this deity. The shrine is mentioned in the Konjaku Monogatari-shu (今昔物語集), a collection of over 1000 tales from India, China, and Japan written during the late Heian Period (794-1192 AD).
- source : www.onmarkproductions.com - Mark Schumacher


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- quote by Gerard Taaffe
I highly recommend a visit to Nakayama Shrine about 3 km north of Shuraku-en. Built in 707 at the end of the Asuka Period (593-710), this shrine is dedicated to the god of cattle and horses.

In its precincts there is also a monkey shrine that is mentioned in the collection of 11th-century “once-upon-a-time” tales titled “Konjaku Monogatari.” Attached to this old shrine is a lovely preserved mixed woodland covering almost 7 hectares, whose trees, insects and birds have all been carefully cataloged by the shrine office.

In front of the 11-meter stone torii erected in 1791 at the entrance to the shrine there is a sacred keyaki (Zelkova serrata) that is reckoned to be 800 years old. This hollow-centered tree (also known as a shinboku) is only 10 meters tall, but at one time it must have been much higher judging by its trunk, which is 20 meters in diameter.

Adjacent to the torii there is a 500-year-old muku-no-ki (Aphananthe aspera), a deciduous tree which, like the keyaki, belongs to the elm family (Ulmaceae).

Finally, in this veritable arboretum just in front of the main shrine building, you will also come across a fine specimen of akagashi (red oak or Japanese evergreen oak; Quercus acuta). This species has leathery, oblong-ovate leaves that are 7-15 cm long with glossy upper surfaces and no teeth on the margin. This oak yields fine hard-grained timber whose reddish color has given the tree its Japanese name.
- source : Japan Times, 2002


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- Reference : 日本語

- Reference : English


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


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kagamitsukuri, Kagami Tsukuri no Muraji
This family or clan of mirror makers for the Shinto deities are offspring from Ame no Nukado and Ishikoridome.
イシコリドメは作鏡連らの祖神である.

- quote
from A SCROLL OF GLEANINGS
FROM - ANCIENT STORIES TOGETHER WITH A PREFACE
BY
IMBE-NO-SUKUNE-HIRONARI, LOWER GRADE OF THE JUNIOR FIFTH COURT RANK
Inbe no Hironari 斎部広成

snip
Whereupon Amaterasu-Ō-Mikami was greatly incensed, and entering into the Heavenly Rock-Cave, closed its door and concealed herself therein. Consequently, the eternal night of darkness prevailed, so that no one could distinguish between the day and the night. And all the gods were dismayed and, to their great inconvenience, all business was transacted by artificial light. Then p. 20 Takami-Musubi-no-Kami summoned a council of the Eighty Myriads of Gods on the Dry-Bed-of-the-Eight-Sand-Bank-River in Heaven, and enquired what measures should be taken in order to rectify matters. In response Omoikane-no-Kami, the God of Profound Knowledge and Foresight, proposed the following scheme to induce Amaterasu-Ō-Mikami to return from her hiding place in the Rock-Cave.

Futotama-no-Kami was to be appointed to make “nigite,” i.e., offerings of fine cloth, in aid of the gods of different callings. Ishikoritome-no-Kami (from whom the Kagamitsukuri or Mirror-making family is sprung and who is the child of Ame-no-Nukado-no-Mikoto) was to construct a mirror, resembling in form the disc of the sun, i.e., an image of Amaterasu-Ō-Mikami, out of copper brought from the Heavenly Mt. Kagu.

Nagashiraha-no-Kami (Ancestor of the Omi family in Ise Province—“shiraha,” the ordinary name of cloth at the present day, originated from the name of this god) was to plant hemp and make “aonigite,” i.e., offerings of fine blue-coloured hempen cloth. Ame-no-Hiwashi-no-Kami and Tsukuimi-no-Kami were bidden to make “shiranigite,” i.e., offerings of fine white cloth woven from the paper mulberry (tradition says that at that time, both hemp and mulberry grew luxuriantly in a night after being planted).
snip
Thus doing, as Omoikane-no-Kami had suggested, they first tried to construct a mirror, as an image of the Sun-Goddess; but as the first mirror made by Ishikoritome-no-Kami was slightly defective and therefore unfit for use (this Mirror is the Deity at Hinokuma in Ki-I Province), a second was moulded which was ideally beautiful (this Mirror is the Deity of the Ise Shrine).
- source : www.sacred-texts.com


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- #nakayama #nakayamatsuyama -
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25/09/2013

shinbutsu - kami to hotoke

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. kami 神 Shinto deities - ABC-list .
. hotoke 仏 Buddhist deities - ABC-list .
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shinbutsu 神仏 kami to hotoke - the Deities of Japan

すゝしさや神と佛の隣同士
suzushisa ya kami to hotoke no tonaridooshi

this coolness !
Kami and Buddhas
side by side


Masaoka Shiki

The discussion started from here:
. WKD : kami to hotoke .

kamigami 神々 the Kami deities of Japan

. shinbutsu in Edo  江戸の神仏 Kami and Hotoke in Edo .

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shinbutsu shūgō 神仏習合 Shin Butsu Shugo - syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism
A wide variety of titles have come into use in accordance with the unique characteristics of kami, and as a result of historical changes in the way kami have been understood. In the ancient period, the title mikoto was used, while expressions such as myōjin ("shining kami"), daibosatsu (great bodhisattva), and gongen (avatar) came into use as a product of kami-buddha combinatory cults (shinbutsu shūgō).
During the Edo period, the title reisha ("spirit shrine") was applied to the departed spirits of human beings.
. 神仏 - read the details HERE .

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Buddhas and Kami in Japan: Honji Suijaku as a Combinatory Paradigm
by Fabio Rambelli (Editor), Mark Teeuwen (Editor)

This volume offers a multidisciplinary approach to the combinatory tradition that dominated premodern and early modern Japanese religion, known as honji suijaku (originals and their traces). It questions received, simplified accounts of the interactions between Shinto and Japanese Buddhism, and presents a more dynamic and variegated religious world, one in which the deities' Buddhist originals and local traces did not constitute one-to-one associations, but complex combinations of multiple deities based on semiotic operations, doctrines, myths, and legends. The book's essays, all based on specific case studies, discuss the honji suijaku paradigm from a number of different perspectives, always integrating historical and doctrinal analysis with interpretive insights.
- quote - amazon com -

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- quote
Shinbutsu Bunri 神仏分離
The separation of Shinto and Buddhism.
A series of administrative measures implemented by the Meiji government, designed to prohibit the shinbutsu shūgō (the systemic combination of kami and buddhas, shrines and temples, and their priesthoods) system that had its roots in the Nara Period (710-94). Buddhism, which arrived in Japan in the sixth century, steadily combined with Shinto until the emergence in the medieval period of the honji suijaku theory (the idea that kami were trace manifestations of "original" bodhisattvas) which came to constitute what one might call "Japanese religion."

In other words, there now began to proliferate across Japan the erection of temples within shrine compounds (jingūji), the practice of sutra reading at shrines, the application of the term "bodhisattva" to kami, and the celebration of rites at shrines by bettō or shasō (priests wearing Buddhist garb). Apart from Ise Jingū and a few other exceptions, most shrines were placed under Buddhist control. The combinatory dimension of shrines in the Hachiman and Gion lineages, which from the outset had a thick Buddhist coloration, was even more pronounced. Many were sites that were no longer distinguishable as either Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine.

In response to this situation, anti-Buddhist thought strengthened in the early modern period under the influence of Confucianism and kokugaku (National Learning, nativism). Kokugaku thinkers and shrine priests (shinshoku) began to call fervently for a return of shrines to their original form. The Restoration government, which came to power in 1868 proclaiming a "return to imperial rule" (ōsei fukko) and a political transformation that claimed the same creative state-founding legitimacy as that held by the mythological first emperor Jinmu (jinmu sōgyō), put the theory into practice and endeavored to clarify the distinction between shrines and temples. On the seventeenth day of the third month of that year, the government issued the "separation edicts" and ordered the defrocking of the bettō and shasō.
This was the first stage of shinbutsu bunri.

The second stage began on the twenty-eighth, when the government banned the application of Buddhist terminology such as gongen (avatar) to kami, and the veneration of Buddhist statues as the shintai (the sacred presence or enshrined deity) at shrines.

The beginning of the third stage was marked by the promulgation of orders on the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month banning the application of the Buddhist term "Daibosatsu" to Hachiman at Iwashimizu Hachimangū and Usa Hachimangū (presently Usa Jingū). Hachiman was henceforth to be known as Hachiman Daijin.

Finally, on the fourth day of the fourth intercalary month, all the defrocked bettō and shasō were instructed to restyle themselves as "shrine priests" (kannushi) and to resume shrine service. Those who refused on the grounds of their Buddhist beliefs were ordered to leave their shrines. At the same time, orders were issued to the Nichiren (Buddhist) Sect to desist from referring to the sanjū banshin (Thirty Protective Tutelary [Lotus] Deities) as kami.

As a result of these measures, all shades of Buddhism were eliminated from shrines across Japan. There were shrine priests, nativists and local government officials who interpreted these regulations as implying that Buddhism should be destroyed (this event was known in Japanese as haibutsu kishaku, which literally means "abandon Buddhism and throw out Shakyamuni [the historical Buddha]") and embarked on an extreme anti-Buddhist campaign.

This prompted central government to strictly instruct shrine priests that the separation of the two was to be conducted with utmost care, and that the intention was not the destruction of Buddhism. However, central government instructions had little impact until the abolition of the domains in 1871. Local government officials were still relatively powerful and, steeped as they were in Confucian thinking, they promoted anti-Buddhist policies across Japan in response to the separation regulations.
The result was the destruction of many temples and Buddhist treasures.
source : Sakamoto Koremaru , Kokugakuin





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- quote -
Haibutsu kishaku (廃仏毀釈)
(literally "abolish Buddhism and destroy Shākyamuni")
is a term that indicates a current of thought continuous in Japan's history which advocates the expulsion of Buddhism from Japan. More narrowly, it also indicates a particular historic movement and specific historic events based on that ideology which, during the Meiji Restoration, produced the destruction of Buddhist temples, images and texts, and the forced return to secular life of Buddhist monks.

An early example of haibutsu kishaku

is the Mononobe clan's anti-Buddhist policies during the Kofun period. The Mononobe were opposed to the spread of Buddhism not on religious grounds, but rather because of nationalism and xenophobia. The Nakatomi clan, ancestors of the Fujiwara, were allies of the Mononobe in their opposition to Buddhism.

Another example is the policies of temple closure and monk defrocking of the Okayama, Aizu, and Mito Domains, also adopted for political and economic, rather than religious, reasons during the early modern period. These domainal policies were in general based on Confucian anti-Buddhist thought. The Meiji period form of haibutsu kishaku, based on kokugaku and Shinto-centrism, was instead dictated by a desire to distinguish between foreign Buddhism and a purely Japanese Shinto.
- Haibutsu kishaku during the Meiji Restoration
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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Shikoku 88 Henro Pilgrim Temples

. Jin’nein Temple (the 68th) and Kannonji Temple (the 69th). .

In the Daido era (806-809), Kobo Daishi enshrined Amida Buddha、which was Honjibutsu (Buddhist counterpart of the deity of the shrine) and designated the shrine as the 68th of the 88 Holy Sites of Shikoku.
. . . when temples and shrines were separated according to the Shinbutsu Bunri policy of the national government, Honjibutsu Amida Buddha of Kotohiki Hachimangu Shrine was removed to Nishi-Kondo Hall of Kannonji Temple, which became the main hall of Jin’nein Temple; . . .


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During the process of separation of Shinto and Buddhist objects of worship, the deity Myoken (the north star) was changed to Amenominakanushi 天之御中主神 at many shrines.

. Kotoamatsukami 別天津神 .
zooka no sanshin 造化の三神 "The three deities of creation"



. 'shinbutsu reijo junpai no michi' 神仏霊場巡拝の道
pilgrimage routes of Buddhist and Shinto holy places .


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The Invention of Religion in Japan
Jason Ananda Josephson



Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call "religion." There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ānanda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed.

More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson's account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of "superstitions"-- and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition.
- amazon com -

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The Fluid Pantheon: Gods of Medieval Japan
Faure, Bernard

Written by one of the leading scholars of Japanese religion, The Fluid Pantheon is the first installment of a multivolume project that promises to be a milestone in our understanding of the mythico-ritual system of esoteric Buddhism—specifically the nature and roles of deities in the religious world of medieval Japan and beyond. Bernard Faure introduces readers to medieval Japanese religiosity and shows the centrality of the gods in religious discourse and ritual; in doing so he moves away from the usual textual, historical, and sociological approaches that constitute the “method” of current religious studies. The approach considers the gods (including buddhas and demons) as meaningful and powerful interlocutors and not merely as cyphers for social groups or projections of the human mind. Throughout he engages insights drawn from structuralism, post-structuralism, and Actor-network theory to retrieve the “implicit pantheon” (as opposed to the “explicit orthodox pantheon”) of esoteric Japanese Buddhism (Mikkyō).

Through a number of case studies, Faure describes and analyzes the impressive mythological and ritual efflorescence that marked the medieval period, not only in the religious domain, but also in the political, artistic, and literary spheres. He displays vast knowledge of his subject and presents his research—much of it in largely unstudied material—with theoretical sophistication. His arguments and analyses assume the centrality of the iconographic record, and so he has brought together in this volume a rich and rare collection of more than 180 color and black-and-white images. This emphasis on iconography and the ways in which it complements, supplements, or deconstructs textual orthodoxy is critical to a fuller comprehension of a set of medieval Japanese beliefs and practices. It also offers a corrective to the traditional division of the field into religious studies, which typically ignores the images, and art history, which oftentimes overlooks their ritual and religious meaning.

The Fluid Pantheon and its companion volumes should persuade readers that the gods constituted a central part of medieval Japanese religion and that the latter cannot be reduced to a simplistic confrontation, parallelism, or complementarity between some monolithic teachings known as “Buddhism” and “Shinto.” Once these reductionist labels and categories are discarded, a new and fascinating religious landscape begins to unfold.
- source : uhpress.hawaii.edu -

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初詣小さき宮の神仏
hatsumoode chiisaki miya no kami hotoke

first New Year's visit -
the Kami and Buddhas
at the small shrine


Hasegawa Kanajo 長谷川かな女

. WKD : hatsumōde 初詣 "first visit". - to a temple or shrine in Japan


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神仏の血を混沌と袋角
shinbutsu no chi o konton to fukurozuno

confusion in the blood
of Kami and Buddhas -
growing summer horns


Akamatsu Keiko 赤松[ケイ]子


This seems to be about the famous deer of Nara, who roam freely in the grounds of temples and shrines.

. fukurozuno 袋角 (ふくろづの) summer horns .
kigo for early summer

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. Shōmen Kongō 青面金剛 Shomen Kongo .
and the Koshin Cult
. Kōshin shinkō 庚申信仰 .

Yamazaki Ansai, drawing on the association of shin with the monkey (saru), advocated a Shintoistic kōshin cult, in which the primary object of worship was Sarutahiko. Within the Shugendō tradition as well, a unique form of the kōshin cult was propagated, so that there were three varieties of the faith: Buddhist, Shintō, and Shugendō.

. Sarutahiko densetsu 猿田彦伝説 Sarutahiko Legends .

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- - - - - Legends about shinbutsu 神仏 the Deities of Japan

. shinbutsu 神仏と伝説 legends about Kami and Hotoke - the Deities of Japan .

shinbutsu no kago 神仏の加護 divine protection of the Shinbutsu

Etoki nazotoki nihon no shinbutsu :
Anata o mamoru kamisama hotokesama ga mitsukaru hon
by Hideki Kawazoe


日本の神仏の辞典 - 大島建彦 (編集)


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. kami 神 Shinto deities - ABC-list .
. hotoke 仏 Buddhist deities - ABC-list .

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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
- #shinbutsu #kamihotoke -
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10/09/2013

shinigami God of Death

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shinigami 死神 God of Death "Grim Reaper"



- quote
Shinigami (死神, "god of death" or "grim reaper")
are gods that invite humans towards death, or induce feelings of wanting to die in humans, as applied to concepts in Japanese religion, classics, folk religion, or popular culture. There also exist similar concepts outside of Japan.

- - - Shinigami in Japanese religion
In Buddhism,
there is the Mara that is concerned with death, the Mrtyu-mara. It is a demon that makes humans want to die, and it is said that upon being possessed by it, in a shock, one would suddenly want to commit suicide, so it is sometimes explained as a "shinigami". Also, in the Yogacarabhumi-sastra, a writing on Yogacara, it was a demon that decided the time of people's deaths. The Yama, the king of the Underworld, as well as oni like the Ox-Head and Horse-Face are also considered a type of shinigami.

In Shinto,
in Japanese mythology, Izanami gave humans death, so Izanami is sometimes seen as a shinigami.

However, Izanami and Yama are also thought to be different from the death gods in western mythology, and since atheism has been posited in Buddhism, it is sometimes seen that concept of a death god does not exist to begin with. Even though the kijin and onryō of Japanese Buddhist faith have taken humans' lives, there is the opinion that there is no "death god" that merely lead people into the world of the dead.

Shinigami in ningyō jōruri
Shinigami in classical literature
Shinigami in folk religion
Shinigami in modern popular culture
- -  More in the WIKIPEDIA !



. Izanami 伊邪那美命 and Izanagi 伊弉諾 .

. Emma (Enma ten, Enma Oo) 閻魔天、閻魔王 Yama, king of hell .

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- - - The three deities most feared in Japan:

. Shinigami 死神 God of Death "Grim Reaper" .

. Binbogami, Binboo Gami 貧乏神 Bimbogami, God of Poverty .

. Yakubyoogami 疫病神 Yakubyogami, Deity of Diseases .

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. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .

Donba ドンバ a water strider
Donba is almost like a Kappa.
If someone is pulled away by a Donba, there will be more death
in 3, 7 and 13 years.
If the Shinigami is holding on to someone, Donba appears and pulls him down.
Donba likes to eat the intestines of a dead person.

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- source : nichibun yokai database -

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死神に呼ばれて覚めし秋すだれ
shinigami ni yobarete mezameshi aki sudare

called by the God of Death
I wake up -
blinds in autumn


Inagaki Kikuno 稲垣きくの

. WKD : aki sudare 秋簾 blinds in autumn .
sudare are mostly made of bamboo to keep a room in the shadow and cool.

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死神の見えかくれして世はさくら
shinigami no mie-kakureshi yo wa sakura

the God of Death
plays hide and seek -
a world of cherry blossoms


Hozu Misao 保津操

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死神は美男なるべし荻の声
shinigami wa binan narubeshi ogi no koe

the God of Death
should be a good-looking man -
voices of miscanthus



Ikeda Sumiko 池田澄子 (1936 - )


source : maboroshinomori

. WKD : ogi no koe 荻の声 "voice of the common reed" . Miscanthus sacchariflorus
kigo for early autumn

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死神により残されて秋の暮
shinigami ni yori nokosarete aki no kure

the god of death
did not get me today -
autumn dusk


Maybe Issa is overlooking a valley in evening twilight, remembering some friends or relatives that have already gone . . .

. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction . .

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死神が春の踏切番に憑く 仁平勝 東京物語
死神が時を渡つて来て死にぬ 永田耕衣 陸沈考
死神が死んで居るなり百日紅(さるすべり) 永田耕衣(1900-97)

死神とあそぶこゝちや金魚飼ふ 山田文易
死神と問答しつつ日記買ふ 須山俊夫
死神と背中合はせの春隣 小出秋光
死神と逢う娯しさも杜若 永田耕衣 陸沈考
死神により残されて秋の暮 一茶
死神に尻餅つかせ鎌鼬 林 翔
死神に居留守をつかふ寝正月 山下律子
死神に踏み込まれたるカンナの家 高澤良一 随笑

死神のへつらい笑う帰り花 橋 間石
死神の御手をのがれて髪洗ふ 植田房子
死神の素通りしたり韮雑炊 小泉八重子
死神の薄き履物花ざくろ 磯貝碧蹄館
死神の行きし雪稜月遺り 福田蓼汀 秋風挽歌
死神の覗く鳥鍋囲むなり 清水基吉 寒蕭々
死神の追ひ来る冬を籠りけり 小林康治

死神はうからまで来し桃啜る 中戸川朝人
死神は下戸かも我は年酒くむ 林 翔
死神は美男なるべし荻の声 池田澄子
死神もうつらうつらと日向ぼこ 遠藤若狭男
死神を召使ひをり冬籠 小林康治
死神を見送つて居る牡丹かな 永田耕衣
死神を蹴る力なき蒲団かな 高浜虚子
死神を蹶る力無き蒲団かな 高浜虚子
死神を遠く遊ばせ寒椿 八木林之助
死神侍らせ粗衣爽かに独り酒 三谷昭 獣身
死神馳す晴れに吹雪いて八ケ岳 小澤實

死に神のかの指遺い縷紅草 増田まさみ
死に神の遠出してゐる春障子 尾崎隆則
死に神は死ねぬ神かな二重虹 山崎十生「招霊術入門」
死に神は美男なるべし荻の声 池田澄子 たましいの話
死に神は近づけまいぞ着膨れて 鉄山幸子
死に神を負ひ香水の香をまとひ 櫛原希伊子

死者を早や死に神去りし花柘榴 右城暮石 上下
白牡丹緋牡丹死神がとほし 廣瀬町子
禁欲の死に神はじけ鳳仙花 増田まさみ
緑蔭を看護婦がゆき死神がゆく 石田波郷
腐刻画の死神笑ふ花七日 星野石雀
若者には若き死神花柘榴 中村草田男「萬緑」
蒲団干すついでに死神も干す 前田吐実男
足袋かさね穿いて死神よせつけず 富田潮児
身ほとりに死神を飼ひ冬籠 小林康治 『華髪』
隣家まで来た死神に挨拶する 鈴木石夫
霜ひびき犬の死神犬に来し 西東三鬼

たたみ込む暑や死神に手を貸して 高澤良一 素抱
ちぢみ着る死神と寝し髪すゝぎ(一応、床払ひ) 殿村菟絲子
人暑うして死神が死ににけり 永田耕衣 自人
少年の死神が待つ牡丹かな 永田耕衣
手の中に死神がいる寒暮なり 寺田京子
手を打つて死神笑ふ河豚汁 矢田挿雲
日参の死神のヒマ潰しかな 永田耕衣
春一番死神もまた矢を放つ 古賀まり子 緑の野以後
枯れふかくきて死神をつきはなす 安江里枝

source : HAIKUreikuDB

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- #shinigami -

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01/09/2013

kamidana - household Shinto altar

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kamidana 神棚 household Shinto altar, "shelf for the Gods"




. Ishitani Residence in Chizu, Tottori 智頭 石谷家住宅 .



- quote
A household Shinto altar, a facility for the conduct of family rites at home, in which amulets of the kami, an "apportioned spirit" (bunrei) of the kami, and similar items may be enshrined. The place chosen for installation of the kamidana should be clean, bright, and quiet, in a location convenient for worship and placement of offerings.
An eastern or southern orientation is generally considered to be desirable.

While kamidana have today become important sites for daily devotion to the kami, the institution of the kamidana itself is not particularly old. Toward the end of the Heian period, rites for ancestral spirits (sorei) were entrusted to Buddhism, and it became customary to enshrine ancestral tablets (ihai) in household Buddhist altars (butsudan), which was accompanied by a movement to conduct rituals in each household.

From the medieval period, the spread of the Ise and other cults led to the custom of installing kamidana for the enshrinement of kami that had been "dedicated" (kanjō) in other locales.
In the early modern period, priests called oshi helped spread the Ise cult to the populace, and it became customary throughout the country to construct special Ise altars (Daijingūdana) to enshrine an amulet (taima or ofuda) from the Grand Shrines (Jingū).

The institution of kamidana thus spread to individual households from around the mid-Edo period. In addition to the kamidana used within Shrine Shinto (Jinja Shintō), other kamidana may be found with specific names and varying locations in accordance with the kami enshrined, including
Ebisu-dana, Kōjin-dana, Toshitoku-dana, and Kadogami-dana.

Kamidana may also be dedicated to tutelaries of craftsmen with special artisan skills, or to other tutelaries of specific trades. Other kamidana are devoted to success in business and good fortune.
source : Okada Yoshiyuki, Kokugakuin



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kamidana 神棚 "shelf for the Shinto Deities"


. Shinsatsu 神札 , Mamorifuda 守り札 Amulets for the kamidana .

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- quote from JAANUS
kamidana 神棚
An interior shelf *tana 棚, where paper talismans, kamifuda 神札, or amulets, gofu 御符, issued by the major Shinto shrines were enshrined for worship as tutelary household deities, kami 神, in traditional vernacular houses, *minka 民家, of the Edo period.

Candles were lit and offerings of rice, fruit, fish, rice wine etc. were made daily. Little is known about the early development of the kamidana, but small shrines to tutelary deities inside a residence go back to ancient times among the aristocracy, as the Heian period Higashi Sanjou 東三条 mansion demonstrates. It is probable that in early times offering tables within a house were not permanent, but were set up as occasion demanded for specific ceremonies and afterwards removed. Dating the emergence of the kamidana is difficult because there are few old examples, but it was closely connected with the development of the domestic Buddhist altars *butsudan 仏壇.

One of the earliest surviving examples may be found at Yoshimura 吉村 House, a 17c village headman's residence near Osaka, now an Important Cultural Property. This consists of a recess equipped with shelves and sliding doors *fusuma 襖, but it is not clear whether this originally functioned as a kamidana. A more common type of kamidana occupied the top part of a cupboard unit todana 戸棚, and resembles a doored upper shelf *fukurodana 袋棚.

However, the most widespread type was a plain board forming a shelf fixed to the top of the lintel members *kamoi 鴨居, and supported by cantilevered brackets from beneath, or stabilized with timber hangers *tsurigi 吊り木, suspended from the beams above. On this shelf a miniature Shinto shrine was often installed to contain the kamifuda. This structure may be elaborate in design, though unlike the miniature shrine cabinet *zushi 厨子, of the Buddhist altar, the timber was usually unlacquered, *shiraki 白木, following one of the most venerable traditions of shrine architecture.
This type of kamidana was believed to have developed comparatively late and the decorative shrine later still.

The kamifuda enshrined may be that of a clan deity, ujigami 氏神, or come from one of the major national shrines, such as Ise Jinguu 伊勢神宮.

Particularly in the houses of craftsmen and merchants, there may be separate shelves known as engidana 縁起棚, where deities with combined Shinto and Buddhist identities, such as *Ebisu 恵比須, *Koujin 荒神 or Inari 稲荷 were commonly enshrined.

It was not unusual for houses to have two separate kamidana. Kamidana were most often located in one of the main everyday living rooms or the kitchen, close to the earth-floored area *doma 土間. They were sometimes placed toward the rear of the room, facing the front of the house *omote 表, or at the high end *kamite 上手, facing down the room toward the doma. They were often placed in the corner of a room for better support.

In many 17c to early 18c farmhouses in central and eastern Japan, the kamidana, though usually a later addition, was placed close to the shallow decorative alcove *oshi-ita 押板, in the living room *hiroma 広間. In rare cases, for instance, if the house was totally Shinto and had no butsudan, the kamidana was installed in one of the formal reception rooms *zashiki 座敷.
source : www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus

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soreisha 祖霊舎 household Shinto altar


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- quote
Kamidana (神棚, kami-dana, lit. "god-shelf")
are miniature household altars provided to enshrine a Shinto kami. They are most commonly found in Japan, the home of kami worship.
- Purchasing and caring for kamidana
First, a kamidana cannot be set up on the ground or at eye level. It must be above an ordinary person's eye level. Second, a kamidana cannot be set up over an entrance, but must be built into a space which people will not walk under. Finally, when an ofuda is enshrined in a kamidana, after removing the pouch it is customary to leave an offering of water, liquor, or food in front of the kamidana, which should be renewed regularly. These rules apply both to one's household and to martial arts dojos.

Ofuda are replaced before the end of each year.
However, kamidana can be kept in one's house until they are no longer usable.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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. New Year Decorations for the Kamidana .


. butsudan 佛壇 or 仏壇 Buddhist family altar .


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On the first day of the New Year, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Oomikami is worshipped in many places of Japan. During the Edo period, is was customary to bow and clap your hands in prayer to the sun, o-tentoo-sama, every morning and also make offerings to the numerous Shinto deities at the small shelf for the Gods (kamidana) in every home.
. Amaterasu Oomikami 天照大神 .


Hakata Daruma dolls
During the last day of the year peddlers would walk around to sell little Daruma dolls to be put on the Family Shelf of the Gods (kamidana) in the house beside a candle to wait for the New Year while praying for good fortune.
. Hakata Ningyo 博多土人形 Dolls from Hakata .


Fire has been looked at with veneration and fear since olden times and the kitchen hearth has been a special place of worship. Most traditional homes have a shelf for the gods (kamidana) near the hearth (kamado) or open hearth (irori).
. Kamagami 釜神 The Hearth Deity .


. kodakara no ishi 子宝石 stone to get pregnant .
This stone must be put on the shelf of the gods (kamidana) for daily prayers.
Put on a pink cushion, it can also be placed in the bedroom, with a prayer every evening.


. kodakara suzu 子宝鈴 ritual bell to get pregnant .
This bell is for the use at home for the daily prayer in front of the Shelf of the Gods (kamidana).


. O-too matsuri 御灯祭 Torch Festival at Kumano .
People take the torches home, place them on the shelf for the gods (kamidana 神棚) and pray for the good luck of the whole family in the coming year.

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. Japanese Legends - 伝説 民話 昔話 – ABC-List .

. Kamidana legend from Miyagi .

110 神棚 legends to explore

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- - - - -  H A I K U  - - - - -

神棚も仏壇もなく神の留守
kamidana mo butsudan mo naku kami no rusu

no altar for the gods
and no Buddhist family altar -
the gods are absent


Yamauchi Yuushi 山内遊糸 (born 1925)


The tenth lunar month (now November), after the harvest when the Japanese gods had done their duty, they left their local shrines for a bit of a vacation. They would all go for an audience and to celebrate at the great shrine of Izumo, so the rest of Japan was "without gods".
. kami no rusu 神の留守 the gods are absent .


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神棚に護符いく重ね夏蚕飼ふ
kamidana ni gofuu iku-kane natsugo kau

on the God's shelf
amulets are piling up -
caring for silk worms in summer


Minayoshi Soo-U 皆吉爽雨 Minayoshi Sou, So-U (1902 - 1983)
Born in Fukui


. natsugo 夏蚕 (なつご) silkworm in summer .


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source : yamadas.net/festoon.htm - 神棚と注連飾り


神棚に注連ゆるぎなし新世帯
kamidana ni shime yurugi nashi ara-jitai

no slack in the rope
of the shelf for the Gods -
this new household


Kezuka Shizue 毛塚静枝


. shimenawa 注連縄 a sacred rope .


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神棚の一枚板や冬怒濤
kamidana no ichimai ita ya fuyu todoo

only one board
for the shelf of the Gods -
surging waves in winter


Masuda Yooichi 増田陽一 Masuda Yoichi


Many modern homes are rather small and there is no space for an elaborate shelf or home altar. Various kinds of small "one board" altars are now on the market.


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