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A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine, by John K. Nelson
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What we today call Shinto has been at the heart of Japanese culture for almost as long as there has been a political entity distinguishing itself as Japan. A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine describes the ritual cycle at Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki’s major Shinto shrine. Conversations with priests, other shrine personnel, and people attending shrine functions supplement John K. Nelson’s observations of over fifty shrine rituals and festivals. He elicits their views on the meaning and personal relevance of the religious events and the place of Shinto and Suwa Shrine in Japanese society, culture, and politics. Nelson focuses on the very human side of an ancient institution and provides a detailed look at beliefs and practices that, although grounded in natural cycles, are nonetheless meaningful in late-twentieth-century Japanese society.
Nelson explains the history of Suwa Shrine, basic Shinto concepts, and the Shinto worldview, including a discussion of the Kami, supernatural forces that pervade the universe. He explores the meaning of ritual in Japanese culture and society and examines the symbols, gestures, dances, and meanings of a typical shrine ceremony. He then describes the cycle of activities at the shrine during a calendar year: the seasonal rituals and festivals and the petitionary, propitiary, and rite-of-passage ceremonies performed for individuals and specific groups. Among them are the Dolls’ Day festival, in which young women participate in a procession and worship service wearing Heian period costumes; the autumn Okunchi festival, which attracts participants from all over Japan and even brings emigrants home for a visit; the ritual invoking the blessing of the Kami for young children; and the ritual sanctifying the earth before a building is constructed. The author also describes the many roles women play in Shinto and includes an interview with a female priest.
Shinto has always been attentive to the protection of communities from unpredictable human and divine forces and has imbued its ritual practices with techniques and strategies to aid human life. By observing the Nagasaki shrine’s traditions and rituals, the people who make it work, and their interactions with the community at large, the author shows that cosmologies from the past are still very much a part of the cultural codes utilized by the nation and its people to meet the challenges of today.
- Sales Rank: #1217475 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-08-03
- Released on: 2015-08-03
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Nelson, who teaches Asian studies at the University of Texas at Austin and who has lived and taught in Japan, offers a richly detailed, anecdotal study of Shintoism-the ancient, distinctively Japanese religion often misunderstood by the West. As Nelson explains in the cogent introductory chapters, Shintoism is "a body of ritual practices essentially agricultural in design and animistic in content" yet which somehow manage to attract participation from among urban-dwelling Japanese. Particularly difficult for Westerners is the idea of Kami-essentially what is inexplicable and wondrous in the world. By focusing on the seasonal ritual sand ceremonies of one Shinto shrine, the more than 400-year-old Suwa shrine in Nagasaki, Nelson succeeds in capturing the "moods and motivations" of Shintoism, and in putting a human face on many mystical practices. Ritual is central to Shintoism, and Nelson clearly describes the four basic ceremonies: purification, presentations (offerings), petitions (prayers or "beautiful words" with mystical properties) and participation-before offering specific examples of each. The ceremonies are divided into the four seasons, and each one described includes interviews with, or anecdotes from, participants-such as a Shinto priestess who used to play in a rock band and still sees herself as "a thoroughly modern Japanese woman." Throughout, Nelson demonstrates that Shintoism has survived 2000 years by its "adaptation and resourcefulness" regarding the changing needs of its participants to remain the living religion it is today.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Nelson (Asian studies, Univ. of Texas, Austin), who has lived and taught in Japan, shows great sensitivity to the difficulty Westerners have in approaching Shinto, sometimes called the most Japanese of religions. Following a basic introduction, he describes in fairly simple terms the details of significant rituals and festivals that take place at Suwa shrine in Nagasaki. His book goes a long way toward shedding light on the unique mythology and outlook on Shinto, at times drawing significant parallels with Native American concepts. Nelson explores the connections between Shinto and the somewhat fanatical ends to which it was put in service of the political agenda of World War II Japan; he also examines the implications of the presence of this particular shrine in the heart of one of the cities on which the bomb was dropped. In his introductory and concluding chapters, Nelson reflects on the resurgent nationalism to which Shinto might once again fall prey, and these chapters strike a different, somewhat editorializing tone. On the whole, however, the book is scholarly as well as readable. Recommended for Asian studies collections and other public and academic collections with an interest in the subject.?Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Back Cover
What we today call Shinto has been at the heart of Japanese culture for almost as long as there has been political entity distinguishing itself as Japan. A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine describes the ritual cycle at Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki's major Shinto shrine. Conversations with priests, other shrine personnel, and people attending shrine functions supplement John K. Nelson's observations of over fifty shrine rituals and festivals. He elicits their views on the meaning and personal relevance of the religious events and the place of Shinto and Suwa Shrine in Japanese society, culture, and politics. Nelson focuses on the very human side of an ancient institution and provides a detailed look at beliefs and practices that, although grounded in natural cycles, are nonetheless meaningful in late-twentieth-century Japanese society.
Most helpful customer reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
The ritual cycle of a Shinto Shrine.
By Michael Valdivielso
The author uses a major Shinto Shrine, Nagasaki's Suwa Shrine, as the focus of the book. It starts out with chapters about Kami, the history of the shrine and a overview of rituals and ceremonies then the book is cut up into Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. It has lots of details, including, in the back, a map of the shrine, glossary of terms, list of festivals and rituals of the Suwa Shrine and works cited. The details are about this ONE Shrine, so if you wanted a book on all kami and shrines in Japan THIS is not it. Yet it does give a nice first person account of events in a Shinto Shrine, dealing with beliefs, practices and how the shrine interacts with the city's community, businesses and families. Kind of like seeing the forest by examing one of the trees.
A must for people interested in Shintoism or Japan.
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
A beautifully written look behind Shinto's veil of mystery.
By A Customer
For any serious student of Shinto or highly interested, independent researcher, this book is a wonderful choice. Dr. Nelson's vivid imagery and comprehensive descriptions give the reader a chance to connect emotionally with the events as they transpire across time. In my case, I felt almost as though I was present. There are few English-language volumes on Shinto which so clearly and eloquently deliver up to the reader what, until recent years, has been arcane knowledge unavailable to the West.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Truly understanding Shinto
By Zack Davisson
"A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine" is the best book on Shinto that I have ever read, and that is really saying something as I have read a lot of books on Shinto. It is the first book I have seen that puts things in layman's terms while not dumbing down a fairly complicated system of beliefs and cultural practices.
Instead of attempting to interpret the mysteries and cosmology of the inscrutable religion, author John Nelson puts you in the shoes of Shinto practitioners, from the highest ranking priest to the novices, to the casual visitors who drop by. He takes you behind the scenes, showing you what the day-to-day life is of a Shinto priest, what they believe and what they do. The shrine he introduces, Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki, is a fairly major one, with a full calendar of events and rituals.
On top of all this Nelson frames Shinto in its cultural context. It is not simply a religion, something to be believed in and practiced, but it is a sort of societal glue for Japan, something that connects the present to the past and provides a contextual framework that all Japanese people can recognize. It is difficult to understand this element of Shinto, because the very concept of religion is different.
One of the most fascinating sections of this book is the chapter called "I shouldn't be telling you this but..." where he allows several Shinto priests to express their private opinions under the protection of anonymity. It is exactly this kind of human touch that has been missing from all previous books. Shinto is a religion of human beings, and without this necessary voice it loses all context.
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