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Attending a miyamairi at a shrine in Tokyo. Miyamairi (宮参り, literally "shrine visit") is a traditional Shinto rite of passage in Japan for newborns. Approximately one month after birth (31 days for boys and 33 days for girls [1]), parents and grandparents bring the child to a Shinto shrine, to express gratitude to the deities for the birth of a baby and have a shrine priest pray for ...
Kannushi (神主, "divine master (of ceremonies)", originally pronounced kamunushi), also called shinshoku (神職, meaning "employee/worker of kami"), is the common term for a member of the clergy at a Shinto shrine (神社, jinja) responsible for maintaining the shrine and leading worship of the kami there. [1]
The best-known Naki Sumo Festival is held each year in Asakusa, Tokyo, where student sumo wrestlers of the Sensō-ji temple hold the babies in their arms. When the babies begin to cry, the student wrestlers raise the babies higher in the air, which is believed to strengthen the blessing endowed on each crying child. [1]
A Shinto wedding ceremony. A Shinto wedding ceremony is typically a small affair, limited to family, while a reception is open to a larger group of friends. [1]Shinzen kekkon, literally "wedding before the kami," is a Shinto purification ritual [2] that incorporates the exchange of sake between the couple before they are married. [1]
The shrine priest or attendants use the gohei to bless or sanctify a person or object in various Shinto rituals. The gohei is used for some ceremonies, but its usual purpose is to cleanse a sacred place in temples and to cleanse, bless, or exorcise any object that is thought to have negative energy.
As there is an underlying concept of doing all one can with sincerity, [4] there are many changes in the contents of the shinsen depending on season or region. There are regions where the custom of offering up the first produce of the year before an altar without eating it remains, [5] but there are also areas where offerings are selected from amongst the seasonal foods.
Shichi-Go-San ritual at a Shinto shrine A young girl dressed traditionally for Shichi-Go-San Kunisada. Shichi-Go-San is said to have originated in the Heian period amongst court nobles who would celebrate the passage of their children into middle childhood, but it is also suggested that the idea was originated from the Muromachi period due to high infant mortality.
Offerings are also made to the ancestors so that they will bless the family in the future year. [citation needed] Shinto ceremonies are so long and complex that in some shrines it can take ten years for the priests to learn them. [30] The priesthood was traditionally hereditary. Some shrines have drawn their priests from the same families for ...