The Second Shinto Week Review

January 26-30

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It was an eventful and glorious barrage of Shinto Simulations this week. Learning how to navigate the roads of ancient Japan can be daunting. Luckily, the children were able to mark their way by the namiki along the side of the roads and were protected on their journey by the Dosjin. The class traveled from Miyajima to Kyoto via the Inland Sea and then on to Ise by land. Some pilgrims were accosted by the Shiwaku pirates, with their crane and tortoise banner, others traveled aboard the luxury of a Fujiwara ship, and a few slogged up a mud caked slopes with blistered feet. Copper coins were spent on transportation, food and for expensive inks to give as gifts. In short, the life of a pilgrim on the road was filled with unexpected joys and hardships.   

The simulation made it to Kyoto and Fushimi Inari Shrine on Monday. This striking shrine has 10,000 torri gates and is the most famous of all the Inari shrines. Inari, the Rice Goddess, is closely associated with agriculture and business. Thus, torri are often erected in these shrines by companies to win the blessing of the Goddess in business transactions. 5M joined us as fellow pilgrims at this presentation.  

On Tuesday, 4-F tried their hands at udon making. While this is traditionally a New Year's activity, all the fourth grade did it later this month as part of our year long Bunka study of Japanese culture.  

With 2-C, the class learned about tofu.  A small group went down to the local tofu-ya to gain first hand information. Sean and Kendal represented our group well. Then, on Wednesday, the classes got together and tried out ten different kinds of tofu, rating them on quality and taste. That afternoon, 4H walked with us to Nara and Katsuga Taisha Shrine. The Fujiwara clan founded this shrine back in the 7^th century. Visually it is very appealing bedecked as it is in wisteria and with deer that come to the sound of a trumpet call. Finally, the class journeyed to the Imperial Shrine at Ise. There 4N joined with us in learning about the impressive architecture of the shrine dedicated to the ultimate Shinto kami, the Goddess Amaterasu.