Discoveries from around the archipelago
It's time for another look at the various shrine prayer plaques around Japan. I've found some interesting ones in recent months, and the more you know about the story you tell, the more fascinating that random shrine can become. 1. Hachiman Shrine (Shirakawa-go) - The Hachiman shrine in the UNESCO World Heritage Village of Shirakawa-go has... Continue Reading →
Whew, what a month. Actually, it was a fairly quiet few weeks until I ended up with two trips back-to-back at the end of January. One trip was up to the mountaintop temple complex of Koyasan, which I'll be blogging about in greater detail in the next week or two. The other trip was to... Continue Reading →
It's a quiet day in the Uncovering Japan house today, as I'm still recovering from the eventful weekend. Between a 4th birthday party for my daughter and a day trip to Kurokawa Onsen (as per the birthday kid's request), I am rather enjoying a mellow Monday. But as it's also Seijin no Hi (Coming of Age... Continue Reading →
Last year, around this time, I took off for the mountains of central Japan. During that trip, I spent a few nights in Takayama, one of my favorite destinations in Japan. Takayama is a small city that sits at the edge of the Central Japan Alps. Takayama was renowned in the Edo Period (1603-1868) for... Continue Reading →
Back in the winter, I did a post on some artistic ema I had stumbled across in my travels. Ema are prayer plaques found at shrines and worshipers write prayers and wishes on them before hanging them up on a board near the shrine's main hall. Since those initial finds, I've kept my eyes open and found... Continue Reading →
'Tis the season ... of public holidays, that is. Just like it seems that every other Monday in autumn is a public holiday (and a day off 🙂 ), the weeks between the end of December and the beginning of January feel equally blessed with national celebrations. Today is one of my favorite days to... Continue Reading →
If you're in Japan anytime in the month of November, my advice to you is to hightail it to a shrine. November 15th is Shichi-go-san (literally 7-5-3), a celebration of children aged 3, 5 and 7 and you haven't lived until you've seen adorable toddlers kitted out in full kiddie kimonos. But since Shichi-go-san isn't a... Continue Reading →
It's one of those dark, rainy days here in Kyushu today that - if not for the lingering humidity (c'mon already!) - I would think we had passed straight into winter. I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of fall in Kumamoto, but it seems we might still be a few weeks away yet. The Japanese... Continue Reading →
Yasukuni Shrine is in the news this week. In fact, it's always in the news come the middle of August. On August 15th, Japan (and the world, for that matter) marks the day of surrender that ended the Pacific War. And every August for the past six decades, the world watches to see if the... Continue Reading →
Temple? Shrine? Shrine? Temple? There are few greater perplexing questions for travelers to Japan than how on earth (or in heaven 🙂 ) to refer to the myriad religious structures dotting the landscape. The word Shinto, when translated poetically, means "the way of the gods". It's Japan's native religion, though not an exclusive one. Many Japanese claim... Continue Reading →
