Questionnaire: Nature related beliefs アンケート：自然への考え

This is a questionnaire given to university students.  大学生に対するアンケート.

Do you agree with the following:  あなたの意見は、次のような考え方と一致しますか.

Question  問い

1. Deities reside in mountains and rivers, trees and plants and the like. 山や川、草や木にはカミが宿っている.
2. If you do not purify (bless) automobiles, boats, airplanes and the like an accident may occur.  自動車や船、飛行機などはお祓いをしないと事故が起こる.
3. A rice deity resides in the rice plant.  稲には稲のカミがいる.
4. A rice deity resides in the rice paddy.  田園には田のカミがいる.
5. Mistreating or killing animals causes supernatural retribution.  動物をいじめたり殺したりするとたたりがある.
6. Not giving prayers and offerings to the dead causes supernatural retribution.  亡くなられた方（死者）の霊魂に供養しないとたたりがある.
7. Nature has a “life” and is alive.  自然は「いのち」をもって生きている.
8. Everything on earth exists for human use (to serve humans).  地球上の全てのものは人間に利用されるためにある.
9. People are one part of nature.  人間も自然の一部である.

Survey of 54 Tohoku Gakuin University undergraduates (June 7, 2022)

2022年6月7日のアンケート（東北学院大学）回答者54名

回答　Answer:

1. 　57%
2. 　22%
3. 　43%
4. 　35%
5. 　80%
6. 　70%
7. 　85%
8. 　0%
9. 　65%

Survey of 52 Tohoku Gakuin University undergraduates (May 5, 2017)

2017年5月5日のアンケート（東北学院大学）回答者52名

回答　Answer:

1. 　62%
2. 　29%
3. 　42%
4. 　40%
5. 　85%
6. 　69%
7. 　81%
8. 　2%
9. 　67%

Survey of 68 Kanazawa University undergraduates (October 10, 2012)

2009年10月10日のアンケート（金沢大学）回答者68名

1. 　85%
2. 　41%
3. 　59%
4. 　59%
5. 　94%
6. 　87%
7. 　97%
8. 　0%
9. 　75%

*Questions 1-9 are based on another researcher’s questionnaire. Unfortunately, I have misplaced that researcher’s name and findings. I will post that information as soon as I find it.

Nature related beliefs in JapanDownload

While for many of the questions we may be seeing an overall decrease in affirmative responses, we can observe an enduring respect for nature (Q8) and a recognition that the respondents feel that they are linked to nature (Q9) despite an ongoing distancing from agricultural activities.

Needles put to rest 針の安らぎの場

A memorial service for needles (針供養 hari kuyō) is held annually on February 8th at the Egaraten Shrine (荏柄天神社), located in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture.

Mostly women, but some men too, bring bent, rusted, broken, and otherwise exhausted needles to the shrine. After priests perform Shinto prayers (祝詞 norito), several blocks of tofu (bean curd) are placed before the assembled crowd. Then the participants bring forth their needles and prick them into the soft surface of the tofu, offering a final, soothing repose. Pressing their palms together in silent prayer, the shrinegoers express gratitude to the needles, who have sacrificed their tiny steel bodies to assist in the work of housewives, seamstresses, kimono makers, and hobbyists.

As the festival ends, elementary school students stop to pray at the shrine on their way home.

Miko (Shrine maiden).

Ume (plum) tree blossoms.

Kanagi Town 金木町

A look back at the town of Kanagi 金木町 in Aomori prefecture, now Goshogawara City 五所川原市(photographed in 2005, early morning). The town is known as the birthplace of Tsugaru-jamisen 津軽三味線 (Tsugaru style shamisen music) and as the hometown of the well-known author Dazai Osamu 太宰治 (1909-1948).

A shrine’s horse statue.

Street light with festival decorations.

Main street.

Unshō Temple 雲祥寺.

Statues of Jizō Bodhisattva 地蔵菩薩, a popular Buddhist saint who acts as a guardian of children and the patron deity of pregnant women.

Statues of Jizō Bodhisattva offered in memorial to the departed.

Phone booth elevated to compensate for heavy snowfall.

Dazai Osamu’s home, previously an inn, now a museum. When originally built, it offered a commanding view of the surrounding countryside from its second story (as most homes and businesses were single story structures).

The Faithful’s Graffiti: Senjafuda 参拝者の千社札

Visitors to shrines and temples sometimes commemorate their visit by pasting a paper bearing their name (千社札 senjafuda) on the shrine and temple buildings and gates. Some shrines and temples treat this as a form of graffiti and warn against it. Nonetheless, the faithful seemingly do so as to receive some efficacy and as a way to say, “I was here.”

Here are some photos from the famous Eiheiji (永平寺) Buddhist temple in Fukui prefecture of a shrine covered with senjafuda.

Graffiti? Or a symbol of devotion?

Intensive Course at Kwansei Gakuin University 関西学院大学の集中講義

I have just completed an intensive course at Kwansei Gakuin University’s Graduate School of Sociology (Folklore and Anthropology Department) from February 24th thru the 28th. Over the course of fifteen lectures, the graduate students and I explored various topics under the broad themes of Japanese shamanism, Japanese rural society, Rites of passage, and Anime pilgrimages. My gratitude goes out to Prof. Shimamura Takanori for his kind invitation for me to lecture, as well as the graduate students who untiringly engaged with me throughout the 6 hour lecture days.

2月24日から28日までの関西学院大学社会学研究科（民俗学と人類学）での集中講義が無事に終わりました。 講義の中で日本のシャーマニズム、日本の農村社会、通過儀礼、アニメ聖地巡礼、ディジタル・フォークロアなどの幅広いトピックに関して講義をしました。 関西学院大学の島村恭則先生、そして大学院生の皆さまに大変感謝しております。

 

Palm reader 手相

Public Lecture 公開講座 「心のケアの多様性―東北地方の巫女(シャマニズム)をめぐって」

2019年11月28日に東北学院大学教養学部が開催する「大人の教養倶楽部」の第11回の公開講座の講師につとめました。本年のテーマである「多様性の教養学、あるいは教養学の多様性」に合わせて「心のケアの多様性―東北地方の巫女(シャマニズム)をめぐって」の題目で、心のケアのスペシャリストとして東北地方の地域社会を支えてきたイタコやカミサマという巫女の成巫過程と仕事の内容について講演しました。Link

Repose for Tea Whisks 茶筅供養

Bamboo tea whisks, known as chasen 茶筅, are delicately crafted tools which produce many a fine cup of tea. On occasion, memorial services are given to those whisks who have retired from service.  In Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture on June 4, 2010,  I witnessed as a small group of devotees to the art of making tea bid farewell to their whisks which were sent off through a ritual burning.

A sign announces the memorial service for tea whisks.

Yamanokami Shrine 山神社

The mountain goddess enshrined at Yamanokami Shrine in Miyagi Prefecture’s Misato Town is known far and wide for her efficacy in relation to childbirth. Women have long come to the shrine to borrow a tiny pillow which they take home to ensure an easy and uneventful, that is safe, delivery of their baby. They return the pillow after their child has been born. Many believe that the color of the pillow (red, white, and blue) correlates to the sex of the child, but the priest explained that from the perspective of the shrine the color has no such meaning. The display of phallic offerings in the anterior of the main building attests to the shrine’s strong connection to fertility. Alongside those is another point of interest, a stuffed bear, which is a curious but amusing artifact. During the summer, many visitors come to take a stroll through the multicolored hydrangea in the garden.

Tiny pillows are dedicated on top of the offertory box.

Takayama Inari Shrine 高山稲荷神社

A trek to the Takayama Inari Shrine in Tsugaru City, Aomori Prefecture reveals hundreds upon hundreds of stone, ceramic, and wooden statues of foxes. Once worshiped in homes and businesses for success and prosperity, they are now amassed in silence, sentinels to the passing of time.

Lost at sea 失せ物

Anchors, knives, and other tools, having fallen into the depths of the ocean water, present a problem for fisherman. It breaks the taboo against dropping metal objects into the sea, something that is likely to enrage Ryujinsama, the serpent like water deity. Laying on the bottom, reflecting light, these lost articles known as usemono 失せ物 could scare of the fisherman’s catch. So what to do? Renderings of the lost articles are drawn and offered at the local shrine in order to appease the protectorate deities of the sea.

Shrine building.

Hand drawn prayer offerings for a lost knife and hook are posted on the walls.

Commonly lost objects are anchors. We also see that more than one object may be lost.  Note that the name of the ship is always written, but the dedicator’s name or the date are optional.

Roadside Jizo 道端に立つお地蔵

Women prepare for an annual memorial prayer for those who have died in traffic accidents.

A New Year’s alcove 正月の床の間

Hand and foot shrine 手足の神社

At the Mikata Ishi Kannon Shrine in Fukui prefecture, people offer prayers to cure various ailments connected to hands/arms and feet/legs. They write their names and prayers on minature wooden votives in the shape of an arm or leg. In the past they would have offered their own hand carved votive. But now the votives are supplied by the shrine. Crutches on display attest to the healing power of the enshrined deity. Some visitors even dedicated their prosthetic limbs.

Ishikiri Shrine’s Hundred Laps 石切神社百度参り

The faithful gather daily at Ishikiri Shrine in Osaka Prefecture to pray for among other things, recovery from illness or injury.

Protecting the protector お地蔵を守る北陸

As seen from this example from Toyama, a stone roadside shrine has been completely covered with a straw matting and a plastic blue sheet to protect it from snow during the winter months.

Whereas in many parts of Japan the roadside statues of the Buddhist saint named “Jizo” is left open to the elements, the people of the Hokuriku region (Fukui, Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures) express their strong devotional ties to Buddhism by wrapping up the Jizo statues and shrines.

On the drive leading up to a farmhouse sits an old, moss covered stone shrine enshrining a stone statue of Jizo. The usually exposed front is covered with straw matting to protect the inside statue from the winter snow. This will be removed with the change of the seasons.

A closeup of the above photo. Even care is taken to ensure that Jizo is able to see out of the shrine by cutting a small window in the protective covering. Perhaps this is evidence of the local people’s strong affection for Jizo.

 

Article: Folk performance 論文：伝統芸能

An article (in Japanese) examining the traditional folk performances has been earlier published in the journal of the Folklore Society of Aomori Prefectures. (PDF)

「中野神楽におけるイエの祭り―三戸郡南郷村中野地区の事例から―」という論文を青森県民俗の会の 『青森県の民俗』 第四号に2004年に載せられました。ここで、改めて紹介します。(PDF)

論文の抜粋

一、はじめに

イエを舞台に行われてきた信仰に基づく行事や祭りは、戦後民法によるイエ制度崩壊の影響を受け、近年の農村においても希薄になった感がある。そのようにして古い習慣がすたれつつある現代ではあるが、青森県三戸郡南郷村において、今もなお年に一回開催される春祈祷は、人々の紐帯の機会となっている。

本稿では、南郷村で現在も活発に活躍している「中野神楽」を事例に取り上げ、小正月の春祈祷で実施されている、カドウチとオミキアゲに注目することにしたい。この行事に注目することで、現代日本におけるイエと信仰の関係を明らかにできればと考える。

二、中野神楽

南郷村においては複数の神楽保存会が活動しているが、中野地区では、中野神楽が同地区出身の七人の男性により伝承されている。この山伏系統の神楽で中心となる演目は、「権現舞」である。この舞で焦点となる「権現様」（獅子頭のこと）は、少なくとも二百七十四年前からこの地で神様として祀られてきたと考えられている。「奉再光中野村中常院享保十五年十月六日」という獅子頭にある銘が、権現様の古さを示しているというのである。中野神楽で祀る権現様は「中野権現様」と通称され、中野金毘羅大権現とも呼ばれている・・・

「中野神楽におけるイエの祭り―三戸郡南郷村中野地区の事例から―」 『青森県の民俗』第四号, 2004年5月22日, 頁95～101.

Article: Shimamori’s 48 Shrines 論文：島守四十八社

An article (in Japanese) examining one village’s shrine system. Previously published in Tohoku University’s journal The Bulletin of the Tohoku Culture Research Room.

「島守四十八社にみる地域と信仰―三戸南郷村島守地区の事例から―」という論文を 『東北文化研究室紀要』に載せられました。ここで、改めて紹介します。

Article: A shaman’s protectorate deities 論文： 日本シャマニズム

An article (in Japanese) examining the acquisition of protective deities by a woman who was to become has been earlier published in the journal of the Folklore Society of Tohoku .

「津軽のカミサマの成巫過程―守り神を手がかりに―」という論文を東北民俗の会の 『東北民俗』第36輯 に載せられました。ここで、改めて紹介します。

論文の抜粋

一、はじめに

日本列島の最北端、津軽地方にはカミサマと呼ばれる民間宗教者が多数活躍し、この地方の信仰風景において無視できない存在となっている。カミサマは「霊感」と呼ばれる特殊能力をもつ点から、地域社会において祈祷師あるいは霊媒者といった社会的役割を果たしている。

Mid-winter festival procession 真冬の祭り