A Big Sacred Circle Can Get Rid Of Bad Lucks From Your Body And Soul?

It's already December 29th, so 2016 is going to end soon! In Japanese traditional custom, we have cleansing rituals at the end of a half year and a whole year as I introduced in my previous post inJune. We can see special events/items for this custom at some of the Japanese Shinto shrines.

The photos are taken at Koyasu Shrine in Hachioji city, Tokyo (4-10-3, Myojin-cho, Hachioji City). It is one of the oldest local shrines in the area and apparently the shrine was originally build in the 8 century. Many local people love this shrine because it’s believed as a shrine that gives blessings for matchmaking, having babies, and safe births.

Now you can try annual "Cleanse Ceremony for The Year" at the shrine. A big circle made by a thick straw rope was placed in front of the shrine building and this circle is a special item to cleanse people's body and soul. When you walk through the circle three times making an "8" shape tilted 90 degree as you can see in the lower center photo, your body and soul would get cleaned.

It is said that the origin of the ritual came from a legendary episode. Long ago, when one of Japanese gods was traveling he asked one night stay at a poor man’s house. The man gave the god warm hospitality, then the god told him that he can escape from the disaster of diseases when he carries a ring made of one kind of grass. Later, he could survive from an epidemic by following the teaching. In ancient time people carried a small ring of the grass to get rid of diseases, but later it changed to the aforesaid ritual going through a big circle.

How about trying this ritual and cleansing your body and soul to prepare for coming New Year?

At One Shinto Shrine, How Many Times Can We Make A Wish During A Visit?

There are many Japanese Shinto shrines worshiping various kinds of gods all over Japan. Also temples are often including some Shinto shrines since ancient Japanese had mixed it until modern government separated them by law in Meiji era as I mentioned in my previous post on the October 2nd. Most people enjoy visiting shrines/temples and making a wish whenever they get the chance. It would be more like customs than religion and some major shrines/temples have become very popular as tourist spots.

Then, how many times do people usually make a wish at one shrine? One wish for one shrine? Actually it depends on each shrine. Some shrine worship just one god or one set of gods and have one shrine building for prayers. For Example, Meiji Shrine in Tokyo is one of the most famous shrines, and it worships Meiji emperor and empress. In the case, most people make just one wish at the main shrine building. 

However, many shrines/temples actually worship more than one god separately, and generally they have one main shrine building and some small subordinate shrine buildings on the ground. The photos in the slideshow above are showing a typical example. It is Koyasu Shrine located in Hachioji City, Tokyo. 

Koyasu Shrine is a small scale local shrine although the history is quite long. Apparently this shrine was established about 1200 years ago and it is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in West Tokyo area. The shrine has seasonal events and festivals throughout the year, and is visited by many locals. The main god of the shrine is a god of safe births, marriage, and parenting and it is worshiped in the main building. 

On the right hand side of the main building, there is a pond and a small shrine named Itsukushima Shrine. It is worshiping Benzaiten god which is one of the "Shichifukujin (the seven good luck gods)". As I introduced in my previous post about Shichifukujin, it was originally a Hinduism goddess, but after imported it became a Shinto god of performances and music. 

Moreover, after going through a path beside the main building, another shrine is on the far end of the path. It is a Konpira shrine which is worshiping "Ookuninusi-no-mikoto", a god for good business, traffic safety and good luck. 

In front of the Konpira Shrine, there is a long wooden structure along the approach as you can see in the photo slide show.  To tell the truth, it is a joint shrine building and containing five micro shrines called "Massya (subordinate shrines)". They are for a god of legs and loins, a god of eyes, a god of business and fortune, an god of teeth, and a god of throat.

What's more, according to the leaflet of the Koyasu Shrine, there are 4 more subordinate shrines on the ground. Since they are all separated shrine buildings with own offertory boxes, people can make a wish at each one although they don't have to. Did you get the sum? It's 12 times at most!

Sumo Wrestling Has Some Aspects Of Japanese Shinto Rituals?

In my previous post about babies' Sumo on the September 24th, I mentioned that Sumo Wrestling was originally started as a Japanese Shinto ritual for gods. The history of Sumo is really long and apparently some ancient earthenware having drawing of Sumo have found as excavations from the Kofun period (3rd-7th century) and it is said that the basic rules which we can see today were formed in the 8th century.

Since it was started as a ritual, wrestlers' manner and courtesy have been really important in Sumo, thus when a wrestler's attitude lost respects to gods and the opponent he will be accused of very severely. This kind of dignity is also required for all Sumo wrestlers to get higher ranks. In a sense Sumo wrestlers are not just athletes. 

Let's see outward appearances of Sumo which keep aspects of Japanese Shinto. As you can see in the upper left hand side photo above, the Sumo ring has a roof structure that looks alike Japanese Shinto shrines. Moreover, Yokozuna (the highest rank) wrestlers wear Shinto's sacred rope when they show their ring-entering performance(the thick white rope with papers hanging down in the lower right end photo), and they clap their hands with a big gesture just like worshiping at Shinto shrines. Also all wrestlers scatter salt before they have a match because salt is an item for purification in Japanese Shinto.

In addition, each Sumo wrestler stomp their legs up and down straddling the legs after they entered the ring for their match, in fact it is not only for a warming up because in ancient time it was believed that these big stomping can push over evil spirits. It has been one of the important functions for ritual Sumo. 

So, clearly it still keeps elements of offering performances for gods. When you have an opportunity to check Sumo competitions, you would be able to recognize these ritual actions and items there!

Babies Had Sumo Matches On The Autumnal Equinox Day In Hachioji City, Tokyo

In these days, Sumo wrestling is usually featured as "The National Sports of Japan", but originally it was started as a ritual for gods in ancient times. The matches were offering performances for gods in the early days. Thus, professional Sumo wrestling still has many aspects as a ritual in the manners and rules. 

Also, as the original style of Sumo, Sumo-related rituals has been kept at many local shrines all over Japan. Today, I'd like to introduce an annual local event called "Cry Sumo" which is held in Koyasu Shrine located near Hachioji Station. This event has been well-known locally, so, on last Wednesday, autumnal equinox day, many families visited this shrine and applied to the Sumo even in rain.

A you can see in the photos, the contestants of this "Cry Sumo" are babies. Actually it is a Shinto ritual to pray babies' healthy growth, therefore many parents who have babies come to join this Sumo to get a blessing to their child. 

What is the rules of "Cry Sumo"? At each match, about 5-6 adult Sumo wrestlers line up side by side and each wrestler holds a baby on the wooden stage on the shrine ground. Then two  Gyoji (Sumo wrestling referee) try to make the babies cry, by yelling at the babies like "You cry!" as shown in the photo (1). However, please don't think "Oh, poor babies!".

For these Cry Sumo matches, babies who cry quicker and louder would be the winner. It is said that gods would hear babies' crying voices and give them a blessing. So cry louder would be better. After winners were decided, a Shinto priest pray for each baby's health with a traditional golden hummer and a shrine stuff put a red stamp for good luck on each baby's forehead as you can see in the photos (2)-(4). 

Apparently more than 700 babies joined this Cry Sumo event this year. Wish the cute Sumo wrestlers healthy growth and happy life! 

There Is Some Connection Between Mt.Togakushi In Nagano Prefecture And Mt.Takao In West Tokyo

In my previous post on August 22nd, I wrote about a long established shrine located on the foot of Mt. Togakushi in Nagano Prefecture. It seems the mountain and the old shrine has nothing to do with Tokyo area, but actually there is a certain relation between the area and Yakuou-in Temple on Mt.Takao in Hachioji City, Tokyo.

Yakuou-in Temple is a Buddhist Temple belonging to one of the major Japanese Buddhist sects, but actually the temple is taking over a special style of practices called "Shugendo", which is a mixture of Buddhism and Japanese old nature worship "Shinto". Mixing two different religions might sound like a heretical style, yet it actually had been a very common style in Japan until the first Japanese modern government defined Buddhism and Shinto are completely different religions. 

Originally, traditional Japanese Shinto is a nature worship, so basically the concept tells everything in the world can be gods therefore people thought other religions were not exceptions. In fact still old Buddhist temples often keep shrines on the ground and most Japanese people don't feel strange at all when the saw temples and shrines on the same ground even now.

Going back to the topic of Yakuou-in Temple on Mt.Takao, they practice such a special style Buddhism mixing with nature worship. Their style is particularly called "Sugendo" and the monks are required to train themselves in nature and wear a special outfit for "Shugendo" that is different from usual Buddhist monks as shown in the upper photo.  What's more, their main building worships a special god related to Buddhism called "Iizuna-Gongen" which has a mysterious figure as shown in the lower center photo.

It is said that the Buddhist god, "Iizuna-Gongen", was originally a local mountain god for Mt. Iizuna and Mt. Iizuna is located on next to Mt. Togakushi which I introduced in my previous post. 

Actually the area including Mt. Togakushi and Mt. Iizuna had been famous for mountains worship and "Shugendo" since ancient times. Togakushi shrine also had worshiped some Buddhism gods and Buddha statue until the first Japanese modern government made shrines and temples separate Shinto and Buddhism as different religions. 

Thus, Togakushi Shrine on Mt.Togakushi and Yakuo-in Temple on Mt. Takao have an aspect of relative each other although they are a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple now. If you have a chance to visit Yakuo-in Temple on Mt. Takao in Tokyo, you see Torii gates which are a particular gate style for Japanese Shinto and many small shrines on the temple ground. One of the shrines there even worships a historical person who established "Shugendo" at Mt. Togakushi and Mt. Iizuna as shown in the lower right hand side photo.