Yesterday, on the 3rd day of the new year I visited the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. While there, a shrine maiden performed the Kagura dance accompanied by an ornately painted tsuri-daiko, a Yamagoto and a Yokobue flute. Kagura is the ancient Shinto ritual dance of shamanic origin. The word “kagura” is thought to be a contracted form of kami no Continue reading «Shrine maiden performing a Kagura Dance, at the Fushimi Inara Taisha in Kyoto!»

A Shinto shrine is a structure whose main purpose is to house (“enshrine”) one or more Shinto kami. (Its most important building is used for the safekeeping of sacred objects and not for worship). Although only one word (“shrine”) is used in English, in Japanese Shinto shrines may carry any one of many different, non-equivalent names like gongen, -gū, jinja, Continue reading «What is Shinto?»