Omamori御守/お守り are Japanese amulets commonly sold at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, dedicated to particular Shinto as well as Buddhist figures, and are said to provide various forms of luck and protection. The word 守り means 'protection', with being the (honorific) form of the word. Originally made from paper or wood, modern amulets are small items usually kept inside a brocade bag and may contain a prayer, religious inscription of invocation.
KatsuogiKatsuogi or Kasoegi are short, decorative logs found on Japanese and Shinto architecture. They are placed at right angles to the ridgeline of roofs, and are usually featured in religious or imperial architecture. Katsuogi predate Buddhist influence and is an architectural element endemic to Japan. They are often placed on the roof with chigi, a forked ornamentation used on Shinto shrines. Today, katsuogi and chigi are used exclusively on Shinto buildings and can be used to distinguish them from other religious structures, such as Buddhist temples in Japan.
HokoraHokora or hokura is a miniature Shinto shrine either found on the precincts of a larger shrine and dedicated to folk kami, or on a street side, enshrining kami not under the jurisdiction of any large shrine. Dōsojin, minor kami protecting travelers from evil spirits, can for example be enshrined in a hokora. The term hokora, believed to have been one of the first Japanese words for Shinto shrine, evolved from hokura, literally meaning "kami repository", a fact that seems to indicate that the first shrines were huts built to house some yorishiro.
Kegareis the Japanese term for a state of pollution and defilement, important particularly in Shinto as a religious term. Typical causes of kegare are the contact with any form of death, childbirth (for both parents), disease, and menstruation, and acts such as rape. In Shinto, kegare is a form of tsumi (taboo violation), which needs to be somehow remedied by the person responsible. This condition can be remedied through purification rites called misogi and harae.
Niiname-no-MatsuriThe Niiname-sai (新嘗祭, also read Shinjō-sai and Niiname-no-Matsuri) is a Japanese harvest ritual.The ritual is celebrated by the Emperor of Japan, who thanks the Shinto deities for a prosperous year and prays for a fruitful new year. It takes place near the Three Palace Sanctuaries of in the imperial palace and several large Shinto shrines. The first Niiname-sai for a new emperor is known as the Daijō-sai (大嘗祭), and is part of his enthronement ceremonies.
HimorogiHimorogi in Shinto terminology are sacred spaces or altars used to worship. In their simplest form, they are square areas with green bamboo or sakaki at the corners without architecture. These in turn support sacred ropes (shimenawa) decorated with streamers called shide. A branch of sakaki or some other evergreen at the center acts as a yorishiro, a physical representation of the presence of the kami, a being which is in itself incorporeal.
Watatsumi, also pronounced Wadatsumi, is a legendary kami (神, god; deity; spirit), Japanese dragon and tutelary water deity in Japanese mythology. Ōwatatsumi no kami is believed to be another name for the sea deity Ryūjin (龍神, Dragon God) and also for the Watatsumi Sanjin, which rule the upper, middle and lower seas respectively and were created when Izanagi was washing himself of the dragons blood when he returned from Yomi, "the underworld". The earliest written sources of Old Japanese transcribe the name of the sea god in a diverse manner.
Seiganto-ji, Temple of Crossing the Blue Shore, is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. In 2004, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with other locations, under the name "". According to a legend, it was founded by the priest Ragyō Shōnin, a monk from India. The temple was purposely built near Nachi Falls, where it may have previously been a site of nature worship.
KatanaA katana is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the tachi, it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge facing upward. Since the Muromachi period, many old tachi were cut from the root and shortened, and the blade at the root was crushed and converted into katana. The specific term for katana in Japan is uchigatana (打刀) and the term katana (刀) often refers to single-edged swords from around the world.
Noritoare liturgical texts or ritual incantations in Shinto, usually addressed to a given kami. The first written documentation of norito dates to 712 CE in the Kojiki and 720 CE in the Nihongi. The Engishiki, a compilation of laws and minute regulation presented by the court compiled in 927 CE, preserves twenty-seven representative forms of norito. There is no single universally accepted theory to explain the meaning of the term. One theory derives norito from noru (宣る, 'to declare'; cf.
