Posts Tagged ‘shrine’
Not too far down the road from Izumo-taisha the last sandy vestiges of the land sprinkle out into the Sea of Japan. The beach here is called Inasa-no-hama and it is the site where Okuninushi (大国主), the Great Land Master, ceded control of Japan to Amaterasu and her heirs. According to the Kojiki, the Record […]
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Tags: Amaterasu, Chihiki-no-iha, Diaoyu, Dokdo, en-musubi, Fountain of Jizo, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Haruki Murakami, history of territorial disputes, island disputes, Izumo, Japanese myths, Lafcadio Hearn, legend, Liancourt Rocks, Liancourt Rocks dispute, monuments, myth, national rivalry, national sovereignty, ocean cave, Okuninushi, rocks, Senkaku Islands, Shimane Prefecture, Shinto, shrine, Takeshima, territorial disputes, the cheap alcohol of nationalism, the gods, Tiaoyutai, treaties, 大国主, 天照大神, 島根県
I’ve been to Izumo-taisha (出雲大社), the “Izumo Grand Shrine,” three times but I’ve never seen the main hall, called the honden (本殿) in Japanese, which is one of the most famous buildings in Japan. The honden at a Shinto shrine is reserved for the sole use of the god that resides there — it’s a […]
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Tags: Amaterasu, circles, connection, 神道, 神在月, 縁結び, Emperor Worship, en-musubi, fate, festival of the gods, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Guji of Kitzuki, hinomaru, honden, imperial Japan, Izumo Grand Shrine, Izumo-taisha, Japanese cultural identity, Japanese flag, Japanese mythology, Japanese myths, Japanese nationalism, kami-ari-zuki, Kitzuki, Lafcadio Hearn, love, marriage, Meiji Restoration, miko, money, month of the gods, Okuninushi, rice wine, ritual, ritual dance, ritual offering, sacred dance, sacred rope, sake, Shimane Prefecture, shimenawa, Shinto, shrine, State Shinto, sun goddess, taisha-zukuri, the creation of Japan, traditional Japanese architecture, traditional Japanese ritual, yen, 円, 出雲大社, 大社造, 大国主, 天照, 島根, 巫女, 日の丸, 日本酒, 本殿, 標縄
autumn swordsman
Hachidai shrine (八大神社) is right next to Shisendo, and is most famous because of it’s association with Miyamoto Musashi, one of Japan’s most famous swordsmasters. Supposedly he came here to pray before the epic battle with the Yoshioka school in which he single-handedly consigned an entire branch of the school to oblivion. Here’s how Wikipedia […]
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Tags: defeat of Yoshioka school, duel, 須佐之男命, god of storms, god of the sea, Hachidai, Kyoto, Miyamoto Musashi, Musashi vs. Yoshioka, Reigando, Sagarimatsu, samurai, Shinto, shrine, Susano-o no Mikoto, swordsman, Yoshioka Matashichiro, Yoshioka School, 八大神社, 宮本 武蔵, 京都
A few leftover photographs from around my neighborhood, taken during cherry blossom season. All shots were taken using a Holga loaded with Fujifilm Neopan 400PN.
Filed under: daily life, Japan, Kansai, nature, Osaka, personal, photography, scraps and bones | Leave a Comment
Tags: お花見, black and white, cherry blossom season, cherry blossoms, 豊中市, film, Fujifilm Neopan 400, graveyard, Holga, Japan, Kasuga-jinja, medium format, monochrome, Osaka, reverie, shrine, spring, tombstones, toy camera, toyonaka, 墓, 大阪, 日本, 春, 春日神社, 桜
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社), often called Fushimi Inari Jinja, is the headquarters for foxes and gods. Fushimi Inari is the head shrine of Inari, the Japanese god of rice, and the footpaths that lead up into the hills behind the main shrine buildings are positively covered with persimmon-orange torii gates and the stone figures of […]
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Tags: 神道, 絵馬, ema, 鳥居, footpaths, foxes, Fushimi Inari Jinja, Fushimi Inari Taisha, gates, gods, graves, Inari, Kyoto, paths, photography, prayer placards, Rice God, Shinto, shrine, sunset, 京都, 伏見稲荷大社
Kamakura: Hachiman-gu
The Zen temples of Kamakura had seemed surprisingly uncrowded to us, so we were hopeful about the rest of our tour of Kamakura. Our plan was to visit Hachiman-gu first, and then walk over to see the Daibutsu before sunset. It was when we noticed that all side entrances to Hachiman-gu were closed off and […]
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Tags: 焼きそば, 鎌倉市, food stalls, Genji clan, god of war, Hachiman, Hachiman-gu, hatsumode, Heike clan, Kamakura, Minamoto clan, Shinto, shrine, yakisoba, 八幡神, 八幡宮, 初詣, 屋台, 平家, 源, 源氏
