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Suwa Taisha
, historically also known as Suwa Shrine (諏訪神社 ''Suwa-jinja'') or , is a group of Shinto shrines in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The shrine complex is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Shinano Province and is considered to be one of the oldest shrines in existence, being implied by the '' Nihon Shoki'' to already stand in the late 7th century. Kanpei-taisha Overview The entire Suwa shrine complex consists of four main shrines grouped into two sites: the Upper Shrine or ''Kamisha'' (上社), comprising the and the , and the Lower Shrine or ''Shimosha'' (下社), comprising the ''Harumiya'' (春宮, spring shrine) and the ''Akimiya'' (秋宮, autumn shrine). The Upper Shrine is located on the south side of Lake Suwa, in the cities of Chino and Suwa, while the Lower Shrine is on the northern side of the lake, in the town of Shimosuwa. In addition to these four main shrines, some sixty other auxiliary shrines scattered throughout the Lake Suwa area (ranging from miniature sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heiden (Shinto)
In Shinto shrine architecture, a is the part within a Shinto shrine's compound used to house offerings. It normally consists of a connecting section linking the ''honden'' (sanctuary, closed to the public) to the '' haiden'' (oratory).Heiden JAANUS
Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System, or JAANUS, is an online dictionary of Japanese architecture and art terms compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent. It contains approximately eight thousand entries. It is searchable in both English an ... , accessed on November 17, 2009 If the shrine is built in the '' Ishi-no-ma-zukuri'' style, its stone pavement ...
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Setsumatsusha
and , also called Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version. (collectively known as The term ''setsumatsusha'' is the combination of the two terms ''sessha'' and ''massha''.) are small or miniature shrines entrusted to the care of a larger shrine, generally due to some deep connection with the enshrined ''kami''. The two terms used to have legally different meanings, but are today synonyms. ''Setsumatsusha'' can lie either or the main shrine's premises. ''Setsumatsusha'' are usually 1x1 ''ken'' in size. They can however be as small as beehives or relatively large and have 1x2, 1x3 or even, in one case, 1x7 bays. History The practice of building ''sessha'' and ''massha'' shrines within a ''jinja'' predates written history. The earliest ''setsumatsusha'' usually had some strong connection to the history of the area or the family of the enshrined ''kami''. During the Heian period, Ise Shrine used to make a distinction between the two types based on whether a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honji Suijaku
The term in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native ''kami'' to more easily convert and save the Japanese.Breen and Teeuwen (2000:95) The theory states that some ''kami'' (but not all) are local manifestations (the , literally, a "trace") of Buddhist deities (the , literally, "original ground").Satō Masato (2007) The two entities form an indivisible whole called '' gongen'' and in theory should have equal standing, but this was not always the case. In the early Nara period, for example, the ''honji'' was considered more important and only later did the two come to be regarded as equals.Basic Terms of Shinto During the late Kamakura period it was proposed that the ''kami'' were the original deities and the buddhas their manifestations (see the ''Inverted honji suijaku'' section below). The theory was never systematized but was nonetheless very pervasive a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. It covers an area of , making it the 17th-largest country. Iran has a population of 86 million, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East. Its largest cities, in descending order, are the capital Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz. The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moreya
Moreya or Moriya (洩矢神, ''Moriya- / Moreya-no-Kami'') is a Japanese god who appears in various myths and legends of the Suwa region in Nagano Prefecture (historical Shinano Province). The most famous of such stories is that of his battle against Takeminakata, the god of the Grand Shrine of Suwa (''Suwa Taisha''). Moriya is regarded as the mythical ancestor of the Moriya clan (守矢氏), a priestly family that formerly served in the Upper Suwa Shrine (上社, ''Kamisha''), one of the two sub-shrines that make up Suwa Taisha. In addition, he is venerated as a local tutelary deity (''ubusunagami'') in a shrine in Okaya City near the Tenryū River, which in later variants of the aforementioned myth is identified as the place where Takeminakata and Moriya fought each other. Local historians have long interpreted the story of the conflict between the two deities as the mythicization of a historical event in which a powerful local clan that ruled the Lake Suwa region and its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takama-ga-hara
In Japanese mythology, Takamagahara (高天原, "Plain of High Heaven" or "High Plain of Heaven", also read as Takaamanohara, Takamanohara, Takaamagahara, or Takaamahara), is the abode of the heavenly gods (''amatsukami''). Often depicted as located up in the sky, it is believed to be connected to the Earth by the bridge ''Ame-no-ukihashi'' (the "Floating Bridge of Heaven"). Overview In Shinto, ''ame'' ( heaven) is a lofty, sacred world, the home of the ''Kotoamatsukami''. Some scholars have attempted to explain the myth of descent of the gods from the Takamagahara as an allegory of the migration of peoples. However, it is likely to have referred from the beginning to a higher world in a religious sense. A Shinto myth explains that at the time of creation, light, pure elements branched off to become heaven (''ame''). Heavy, turbid elements branched off to become earth ('' tsuchi''). ''Ame'' became the home of the ''amatsukami'' or gods of heaven, while ''tsuchi'' became the home ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takemikazuchi
is a deity in Japanese mythology, considered a god of thunder and a sword god. He also competed in what is considered the first sumo wrestling match recorded in history. He is otherwise known as "The ''kami'' of Kashima"" (Kashima-no-kami), the chief deity revered in the Kashima Shrine at Kashima, Ibaraki (and all other subsidiary Kashima shrines). In the '' namazu-e'' or catfish pictures of the Edo period, Takemikazuchi/Kashima is depicted attempting to subdue the giant catfish supposedly dwelling at the of the Japanese landmass and causing its earthquakes. Forms of the name In the ''Kojiki'', the god is known as Takemikazuchi-no-o no kami (建御雷之男神 – "Brave Mighty Thunderbolt Man").Heldt, Gustav. ''The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters''. Columbia University Press, 2014. He also bears the alternate names and .『古事記』text p. 27/ mod. Ja. tr. p.213 Birth of the gods In the Kamiumi ("birth of the gods") episodes of the ''Kojiki'', the god of creation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Izumo Province
was an old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku region. History During the early Kofun period (3rd century) this region was independent and constructed rectangular tumuli. But in the fourth century this region saw the construction of rectangular and key shaped tumuli. During the 6th or 7th century it was absorbed due to the expansion of the state of Yamato, within which it assumed the role of a sacerdotal domain. Today, the Izumo Shrine constitutes (as does the Grand Shrine of Ise) one of the most important sacred places of Shinto: it is dedicated to ''kami'', especially to Ōkuninushi (''Ō-kuni-nushi-no-mikoto''), mythical progeny of Susanoo and all the clans of Izumo. The mythological mother of Japan, the goddess Izanami, is said to be buried on Mt. Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hōki, near modern-day Yasugi of Shimane Prefecture. By th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ōkuninushi
Ōkuninushi ( historical orthography: ''Ohokuninushi''), also known as Ō(a)namuchi (''Oho(a)namuchi'') or Ō(a)namochi (''Oho(a)namochi'') among other variants, is a ''kami'' in Japanese mythology. He is one of the central deities in the cycle of myths recorded in the ''Kojiki'' (ca. 712 CE) and the '' Nihon Shoki'' (720 CE) alongside the sun goddess Amaterasu and her brother, the wild god Susanoo, who is reckoned to be either Ōkuninushi's distant ancestor or father. In these texts, Ōkuninushi (Ōnamuchi) is portrayed as the head of the ''kunitsukami'', the gods of the earth, and the original ruler of the terrestrial world, named Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni (葦原中国, the "Central Land of Reed Plains"). When the heavenly deities ('' amatsukami'') headed by Amaterasu demanded that he relinquish his rule over the land, Ōkuninushi agreed to their terms and withdrew into the unseen world (幽世, ''kakuriyo''), which was given to him to rule over in exchange. Amaterasu's grandso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sendai Kuji Hongi
, or , is a historical Japanese text. It was generally believed to have been one of the earliest Japanese histories until the middle of the Edo period, when scholars such as Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Tada Yoshitoshi successfully contended that it was an imitation based on the '' Nihon Shoki'', the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Kogo Shūi''. Scholarship on the ''Kujiki'' generally considers it to contain some genuine elements, specifically that Book 5 preserves traditions of the Mononobe and Owari clans, and that Book 10 preserves the earlier historical record the '' Kokuzō Hongi''. Ten volumes in length, it covers the history of ancient Japan through Empress Suiko, third daughter of Emperor Kinmei. The preface is supposedly written by Soga no Umako (+626). While it includes many quotes from ''Kojiki'' (712) and '' Nihon Shoki'' (720), volumes five and ten contain unique materials. The overall composition is considered as having been compiled between 807 and 936. The ''Kujiki'' contains 10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kojiki
The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperial line. It is claimed in its preface to have been composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Genmei in the early 8th century (711–712), and thus is usually considered to be the oldest extant literary work in Japan. The myths contained in the as well as the are part of the inspiration behind many practices. Later, they were incorporated into Shinto practices such as the purification ritual. Composition It is believed that the compilation of various genealogical and anecdotal histories of the imperial (Yamato) court and prominent clans began during the reigns of Emperors Keitai and Kinmei in the 6th century, with the first concerted effort at historical compilation of which we have record being the one made in 620 unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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