It is the end of the year and I was going through some of the search terms that brought people to this blog. While most search terms are hidden from my statistics by the search engine, I could still view quite a few of them. Here are answers to 10 of the search term questions (in order of popularity) people asked that brought them to my blog.
1. “fasting period of shintoism”
I have written a post about fasting in Shinto, but this sort of fasting is only done by priests, so I am surprise there is so much interest in it in the english-speaking world. To summarize, Shinto priest fast from certain foods and actions for a few days before major festivals for purification purposes.
2. “shinto and ainu culture”
I have written two posts about Shinto and Ainu culture, but again I am a bit surprised by the popularity of them. The relationship between Shinto and Ainu traditions can perhaps be most easily illustrated by SEGAWA Takuro’s metaphor of a “main house” and a “branch house”. In other words, they come from the same source, but have diverged over time.
3. “hilo daijingu hall”
Hilo Daijingu has a rather large hall (community building) that is available for rental for baby birthday parties, graduation parties, and other events. It was built by the shrine community themselves and has tables/chairs as well as a nice stage. Contact the shrine directly if you are interested in renting it.
4. “shinto shrine in hilo?” and “hawaiian japanese omamori ohia”
Yes, there is a Shinto shrine in Hilo. It is called Hilo Daijingu, and it currently the oldest Shinto shrine outside of Japan. Why don’t you come visit it sometime?
The shrine’s most popular omamori has a brocade bag with a design of ohia-lehua flowers, which is a symbol of the big island. The children’s omamori is really cute too. By the way there has been some talk about trying to revive a shrine in Kona too!
5. “why is fish allowed but not meat in shinto”
Shinto allows both fish and meat, but meat is very rare in Shinto. The reason is more practical than you might imagine: meat animals (cows, pigs, etc) were not raised in Japan, and no one ate them. In shrine ceremonies, fish and fowl are relatively common, but for some shrines “kemono” (beasts, ie: hunted animals) are offered. To summarize, there are no strict restrictions on diet in Shinto, but since Shinto values natural things and living in harmony with nature I would suggest “whole foods” are most according with a shinto way of thinking.
6. “best fabric for a hitatare”
A stiff silk or linen would be most historically accurate. Cotton is the most common fabric in modern day versions of the hitatare.
7. “written words on torii shinto”
Torii gates are often given to a shrine as a sign of devotion. This practice is especially common in the case of O-inari-san shrines. On the back of the torii gate is written the name of the donor and the date the gate was donated. By the way, this is a also true for other items seen at shrines, such as stone lanterns and koma inu statues.
8. “hilo daijingu ise shrine”
The daijingu in Hilo Daijingu’s name means that this shrine is dedicated to the kami as the Ise Jingu (Amaterasu Ohmikami and Toyouke no Ohkami). All shrines that are called “Daijingu” are dedicated to the same kami. The literal meaning of daijingu is “Great-Kami-Palace”.
9. “do shintoists bow to idols”
No. I wrote a post about Shinto and Idols before, but to summarize it briefly, “idols” are material objects. Material objects are not worshipped at Shinto shrines.
10. “purple curtain with mitsudomoe”
A purple curtain or banner is usually hung at the front of a Shinto shrine. Purple is considered the most superior colour in Chinese colour theory, so I think this is why the curtains are purple. Usually, this curtain has a shinmon (shrine crest) reverse dyed in white on it. The mitsudomoe (3 jewel whirlpool shape) is a very common shrine crest, since the tomoe (jewel) has long been revered especially in Japan, but also on the Asian mainland.The crest of Hilo Daijingu by the way is a diamond shaped flower. You can see it on the purple curtain in front of the shrine!
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