Shinto shrine

The country Japan is off the east coast of main land Asia neighboring the Pacific Ocean. It is also known as “the land of the rising sun” or simply “Nippon.” It has very mountainous terrain and Archipelago Island, offers lush forest, hot springs and active volcanoes, and the most notable Mountain is Mount Fuji. Many small kingdoms came to together to united around the capital Nara; around the 4th and 8th centuries. Around this period, agriculture improved dramatically and adopted new ideas from…

In Japanese culture shrines are places to worship the many gods that they believe in. This tradition involves physically visiting the shrine and bowing to its inhabitants while praying in an act of respect to their creators and maintainers of earth. In 1993, David Boggett photographed Professor Nakanishi Akira praying at Kamigamo Shrine on Koyama Mountain. Professor Nakanishi is pictured in the corner of the photograph with hands pressed forward in a vector towards the object of worship which…

The shrine was administered by the army and navy up until the time of defeat in World War II when the American occupation authorities imposed the constitutional separation of religion and the state. The controversy over visits by Japanese prime ministers to the shrine arose from the fact that in 1978, the Yasukuni Shrine enshrined 14 executed World War II class-A criminals among the war dead, which generated dispute from neighboring Asian countries who view these visits as representing the…

The Daruma, or Dharma, is seen as the father of Zen Buddhism, which is who is represented in the Daruma dolls. These dolls were first developed in in Japan during the Edo period, 1615-1868, and are colored primarily red. This color was chosen due to the folklore that the smallpox god enjoyed it. Red is now not only recognized as a smallpox protection but also functions as a general illness protection, specifically in relation to the Daruma doll itself. Another belief involving red is that those…

Basho himself refers to some of the Shinto gods in his narrative; in his account of the conversation between him and the prostitutes on their way to the shrine at Ise Basho refers to the “Sun Goddess’s protection” in order to assure that they have a safe journey (Basho pg. 111). The Sun Goddess is a clear reference to Amaterasu who is an, if not the most, important deity in Shinto since it is associated with the royal family. In fact, Basho concludes his…

form of theatre involving music, dance, and drama. During the Muromachi Period (1333-1573), a man named Zeami popularized and formalized the Noh we know of today. Four main noh troupes were established during this era, receiving sponsorship from shrines and temples. It was during the Tokugawa Period (1603-1867) that Noh became even more standardized when the shogunate made it the official ceremonial art and issued regulations for its governance. Furthermore, tradition was emphasized instead…

group and the other 1.5% includes Chinese, Koreans and the indigenous Ainu. In Japan, the two traditional religions are Buddhism and Shinto. 95% of the Japanese citizens abide by the fusion of Buddhism and Shintoism. The practices of Shinto and Buddhist are combined together into single religion, with Buddhist temples being built at the sites of important Shinto shrines. There are ethnic minorities in 1% of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. The national language of Japan is Japanese. Most…

natives’ belief system was based on and in the worship of kami. Kami are the elements of the landscape or forces of nature (“Kami”). In the 6th century Shintoism was created to distinguish native religion from Buddhism and Confucianism (“Shintoism”). Shinto most literally means, “the way of kami” (Hirai). Shintoism became more popular and common in the 18th century (“Shintoism”). Japan’s transition from 18th century to now started in 1871. The Meiji government started by abolishing feudalism…

Introduction What does Japan remind people of? Technology? Ninjas? Video games? For some of us, that maybe all we know about the Japanese besides the fact that they speak a different language, and have dark hair and slanted eyes. So when it comes to healthcare, how do we treat them? Although many people think it is hard to give medical care to a Japanese person, I believe it is easy as long as you know about the Japanese family structure and about Japanese religion. The Structure of Japanese…

Christianity: Christianity originated in Jerusalem, which is in the present day country of Israel. The creator of Christianity was born in Bethlehem, just outside Jerusalem. Christianity was spread by hierarchical diffusion. This is because many kings of Empires were converted to christianity and thus forced their people to believe in the beliefs of christianity. Christianity could also have been spread by contagious diffusion. The religion was spread and taken in by neighboring countries and…