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Itako
, also known as or , are blind women who train to become spiritual mediums in Japan. Training involves severe ascetic practices, after which the woman is said to be able to communicate with Japanese Shinto spirits, ''kami'', and the spirits of the dead. ''Itako'' perform rituals tied to communication with the dead and divination. The practice has been on the decline. As of 2009, there were only 20 living ''itako'' in Japan, all more than 40 years old. Training for ''itako'' traditionally began at a very young age, and included ritualized exposure to cold water. Hundreds of buckets of ice water could be poured on their bodies over the course of a few days. This education for ''itako'' takes about three years, and also includes memorization of songs and sutras. At the end of this training, a ceremony is held, announcing the marriage of the ''itako'' and her patron spirit. Scholars suggest that blindness has long been associated with spiritual powers in Japan. Furthermore, option ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Shinto
, also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists'', although adherents rarely use that term themselves. With no central authority in control of Shinto, there is much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheism, polytheistic and animism, animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the (神). The are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The are worshipped at household shrines, family shrines, and Shinto shrine, ''jinja'' public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests, known as , who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Miko
A , or shrine maiden,Groemer, 28. is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. were once likely seen as Shamanism, shamans,Picken, 140. but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perform tasks ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the sacred dance. Appearance The Miko clothing, traditional attire of a is a pair of red (divided, pleated trousers), a white (a predecessor of the kimono), and some white or red hair ribbons. In Shinto, the color white symbolizes purity. The garment put over the during dances is called a . Traditional tools include the , the (offertory -tree branches), and the . also use bells, drums, candles, , and bowls of rice in ceremonies. Definition The Japanese words and ("female shaman" and "shrine maiden" respectively)Kokugo Dai Jiten Dictionary, Revised edition, Shogakukan, 1988. are usually written as a compound of the kanji ("shaman"), and ("woman"). was arch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mount Osore
is the name of a Buddhist temple and folk religion pilgrimage destination in the center of remote Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. The temple is located in the caldera of an active volcano and is believed in Japanese mythology to be one of the gates to the underworld. Etymology The name originally comes from the Ainu language, with the form later phonetically changed when borrowed into the Japanese language to match the Japanese word ''osore'' (), meaning "dread", likely due to the desolation of the volcanic landscape. The Ainu name for the area may have been ''usori'' (of indeterminate meaning), or ''ushoro'' ("gulf, large bay", possibly in reference to Mutsu Bay) or possibly even ''usat oro nupuri'' ("mountain in cinders", a name recorded in some of the stories about Ennin). Osorezan volcano The is a series of eight somma volcanos ranging from east to west in the centre of Shimokita Peninsula. Mt. Kamafuse, the his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bon Festival
or just is a fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as . The festival of Obon lasts for three days; however, its starting date varies within different regions of Japan. When the lunar calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar at the beginning of the Meiji era, the localities in Japan responded differently, which resulted in three different times of Obon. Traditionally, Obon was celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Obon is now observed during one of the following periods: * July 15 of the Gregorian calendar (Shichiga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Fukushima Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture to the north, Niigata Prefecture to the west, Gunma Prefecture to the southwest, and Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture to the south. Fukushima, Fukushima, Fukushima is the capital and Iwaki, Fukushima, Iwaki is the largest city of Fukushima Prefecture, with other major cities including Kōriyama, Aizuwakamatsu, and Sukagawa. Fukushima Prefecture is located on Japan's eastern Pacific coast at the southernmost part of the Tōhoku region, and is home to Lake Inawashiro, the fourth-largest lake in Japan. Fukushima Prefecture is the third-largest prefecture of Japan (after Hokkaido and Iwate Prefecture) and divided by mountain ranges into the three regions of Aizu, Nakadōri, and Hamadōri. History Prehistory The keyhole-shaped Ōya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Yamagata Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It has a population of 1,005,926 (1 February 2025) and an area of 9,325 Square kilometre, km2 (3,600 Square mile, sq mi). Its neighbours are Akita Prefecture to the north, Miyagi Prefecture to the east, Fukushima Prefecture to the south, and Niigata Prefecture to the southwest. The capital and largest city is Yamagata, Yamagata, Yamagata, with other major cities being Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Tsuruoka, Sakata, Yamagata, Sakata and Yonezawa, Yamagata, Yonezawa. The prefecture is located on Japan's western Sea of Japan coast and its borders with neighboring prefectures are formed by various mountain ranges, with 17% of its total land area being designated as List of national parks of Japan, Natural Parks. Yamagata Prefecture formed the southern half of the historic Dewa Province with Akita Prefecture and is home to the Three Mountains of Dewa, which includes the Haguro Five-story Pagoda, a recognis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Miyagi Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the northwest, Yamagata Prefecture to the west, and Fukushima Prefecture to the south. Sendai is the capital and largest city of Miyagi Prefecture, and the largest city in the Tōhoku region, with other major cities including Ishinomaki, Ōsaki, Miyagi, Ōsaki, and Tome, Miyagi, Tome. Miyagi Prefecture is located on Japan's eastern Pacific coast and bounded to the west by the Ōu Mountains, the longest mountain range in Japan, with 24% of its total land area being designated as List of national parks of Japan, Natural Parks. Miyagi Prefecture is home to Matsushima, Matsushima Islands, a group of islands ranked as one of the Three Views of Japan, near the town of Matsushima, Miyagi, Matsushima. History Miyagi Prefectur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Akita Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographic area is 11,637 Square kilometre, km2 (4,493 sq mi). Akita Prefecture is bordered by Aomori Prefecture to the north, Iwate Prefecture to the east, Miyagi Prefecture to the southeast, and Yamagata Prefecture to the south. Akita, Akita, Akita is the capital and largest city of Akita Prefecture. Other major cities include Yokote, Akita, Yokote, Daisen, Akita, Daisen, and Yurihonjō. Akita Prefecture is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan and extends east to the Ōu Mountains, the longest mountain range in Japan, at the border with Iwate Prefecture. Akita Prefecture formed the northern half of the historic Dewa Province with Yamagata Prefecture. History The region of Akita was created from the ancient provinces of Dewa Province, De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Iwate Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the west, and Miyagi Prefecture to the south. Morioka is the capital and largest city of Iwate Prefecture; other major cities include Ichinoseki, Iwate, Ichinoseki, Ōshū, Iwate, Ōshū, and Hanamaki, Iwate, Hanamaki. Located on Japan's Pacific Ocean coast, Iwate Prefecture features the easternmost point of Honshu at Cape Todo, and shares the highest peaks of the Ōu Mountains—the longest mountain range in Japan—at the border with Akita Prefecture. Iwate Prefecture is home to famous attractions such as Morioka Castle, the Buddhist temples of Hiraizumi, Iwate, Hiraizumi including Chūson-ji and Mōtsū-ji, the Fujiwara no Sato movie lot and theme park in Ōshū, and the Tenshochi park in Kitaka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Necromancy
Necromancy () is the practice of Magic (paranormal), magic involving communication with the Death, dead by Evocation, summoning their spirits as Ghost, apparitions or Vision (spirituality), visions for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events and discover hidden knowledge. Sometimes categorized under ''death magic'', the term is occasionally also used in a more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft as a whole. Etymology The word ''necromancy'' is adapted from Late Latin : a loan word from the Koine Greek, post-Classical Greek (, or 'divination through a dead body'), a compound of Ancient Greek (, or 'dead body') and (, or 'divination'). The Koine Greek compound form was first documented in the writings of Origen, Origen of Alexandria in the 3rd century AD. The Classical Greek term was (), from the episode of the ''Odyssey'' in which Odysseus visits the realm of the dead souls, and in Hellenistic Greek; in Classical Latin, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Shamanism
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way. Beliefs and practices categorized as shamanic have attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including anthropologists, archeologists, historians, religious studies scholars, philosophers, and psychologists. Hundreds of books and academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism. Terminology Etymology The Modern English word ''shamanism'' derives from the Russian word , , which itself comes from the word from a Tungusic language – possibly from the southwestern dialect of the Evenki spoken by the Sym Evenki peoples, or from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Man'yōshū
The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in a series of compilers, is today widely believed to be Ōtomo no Yakamochi, although numerous other theories have been proposed. The chronologically last datable poem in the collection is from AD 759 ( 4516). It contains many poems from a much earlier period, with the bulk of the collection representing the period between AD 600 and 759. The precise significance of the title is not known with certainty. The comprises more than 4,500 poems in 20 volumes, and is broadly divided into three genres: , songs at banquets and trips; , songs about love between men and women; and , songs to mourn the death of people. These songs were written by people of various statuses, such as the Emperor, aristocrats, junior officials, soldiers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
