Reviews

As readers of this blog know I released "Shinto Shrines; A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion", coauthored with John Dougill and published by the University of Hawaii Press, in December of 2012. The desire to continue my research into shrines led me to launch this blog in August of the same year. In addition to ongoing research, the blog contains excerpts from the book and a number of entries that didn't make it through the final edit. I believe the combination of book and blog presents a comprehensive overview of Japanese shrines in English, unlike that found anywhere else. Whereas much of the blog contents have not been verified with individual shrines—as the contents of the book have—I am rather conservative about including information from unreliable sources. One finds that misinformation is picked up and repeated to such a degree that it becomes perceived as fact. This is especially true in Japanese history/myth and equally true of Internet content. I make every effort not to add to the noise. I have also tried to make available on the blog some of the sources I have consulted in writing the book—particularly where they are readily available on the net—with a summary of each. Please let me know if there is some information related to shrines which you would like to see posted.

Here is a recent review from the website Patheos at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pagantama/2016/08/28/pagan-shinto-spiritual-book-reviews-august-2016/2/

From the "About" section of the website comes this: Founded in 2008, Patheos.com is the premier online destination to engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality and to explore and experience the world's beliefs. Patheos is the website of choice for the millions of people looking for credible and balanced information about religion. Patheos brings together faith communities, academics, and the broader public into a single environment, and is the place where many people turn on a regular basis for insight, inspiration, and stimulating discussion. Patheos is unlike any other religious and spiritual site on the Web today.
 
The review is reprinted here by permission of the author, Megan Manson — with my thanks! You can read a short interview with Megan here: www.greenshinto.com/wp/2016/09/06/shinto-paganism-megan-manson/

Pagan, Shinto & Spiritual Book Reviews

August 28, 2016

Joseph Cali & John Dougill, Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan’s Ancient Religion
(University of Hawai’i Press, 2012)
This book is by two of the most generous and enthusiastic non-Japanese specialists on Shinto. Joseph Cali is the creator of Shinto Shrines of Japan Blog Guide, a very useful website for those looking for information about specific jinja (Shinto shrines). John Dougill is the author of Green Shinto, which I consider an essential resource for international followers of Shinto and especially those approaching Shinto from a Neopagan perspective. I’ve therefore had Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan’s Ancient Religion on my wishlist for some time, and I’m really glad I’ve finally got to read it. I was not disappointed.
Booksellers would not be wrong for putting Shinto Shrines in their “Travel” section. It looks and feels very much like a Lonely Planet-style guidebook – one that covers, in considerable detail, 57 prominent jinja (shrines) located all over Japan. Like a Lonely Planet book, Shinto Shrines is packed with full-colour photographs and the entries for each shrine all feature a table of useful information.
What makes Shinto Shrines stand out from Lonely Planet, and in fact many other books on Shinto, is the attention given to details about the shrines – there’s information here that you just won’t find elsewhere, at least in English. The key information about each shrine not only includes its contact details, but also information on which kami are enshrined there, what kind of prayers are usually offered, and key dates in the shrine’s calendar. Perhaps the most attention is given to the shrine’s architectural features, so if that interests you in particular you’ll be in heaven (and if you don’t, you can just skim-read these parts). This, coupled with the excellent introduction to Shinto (with some really helpful illustrations) at the beginning, means that Shinto Shrines transcends being a mere travel guide and is in fact a solid resource for more serious students of the Shinto religion and its shrines.
Friendly, detailed and clearly written with a lot of love, Shinto Shrines is a reference book for a new generation of Japanologists and other enthusiasts of Japan and Shinto – those who are not content with simple armchair research, and want to go out there and experience Shinto for themselves.

Reviews

As readers of this blog know I released "Shinto Shrines; A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion", coauthored with John Dougill and published by the University of Hawaii Press, in December of 2012. The desire to continue my research into shrines led me to launch this blog in August of the same year. In addition to ongoing research, the blog contains excerpts from the book and a number of entries that didn't make it through the final edit. I believe the combination of book and blog  presents a comprehensive overview of Japanese shrines in English, unlike that found anywhere else. Whereas much of the blog contents have not been verified with individual shrines—as the contents of the book have—I am rather conservative about including information from less reliable sources. One finds that misinformation is picked up and repeated to such a degree that it becomes perceived as fact. This is especially true in Japanese history/myth and equally true of Internet content. I make every effort not to add to the noise. I have also tried to make available on the blog some of the sources I have consulted in writing the book—particularly where they are readily available on the net—with a summary of each. Please let me know if there is some information related to shrines which you would like to see posted.

Reviews of the book will be posted as they come to my attention. I begin with an interview which is a repost from John Dougill's excellent blog on all things Shinto— Green Shinto.

Joseph Cali on Shinto Shrines

Posted on July 23, 2012 by John D.

Joseph Cali is the main author of the forthcoming title, Shinto Shrines. (Publication date: Nov. 30, 2012.  For further details and pre-orders, please click here.)

1) When and why did you first conceive of the book?
I first began working on The New Zen Garden around 2002. At that time, I met an exceptional  gardener named Yasumoro Sadao who taught me about traditional garden design. Although the theme of the book was modern dry-gardens (karesansui) and especially the influence of Buddhism, Yasumoro sensei (and a number of other gardeners) loved to say that Buddhism had nothing to do with garden design. But a comment he made to me about ‘listening to the kami of the place before starting to work’ stayed with me. I think this and Landon Warner’s Enduring Arts of Japan put Shinto on the playing field for me.


2) How did you go about selecting the 57 shrines included in the book?
Well, the original intention was to have about 100 shrines. I used my basic knowledge of the country and listed up all the major shrines. Then I began area searches focusing on major historic cities such as Nara and Kyoto, and then island by island beginning with Kyushu. I also searched endless lists of ‘favorites’ and ‘top 5′ and any shrine that was mentioned as interesting — the Shinto ML list was helpful here.

3) How did you carry out the research?
Once I had composed a list I set about finding someone to help with the research. When I had as much information about a shrine as I could find, I wrote it up and then began sending out letters to shrines. The letters included information about the book, the contents of the entries, a request for photos that could be used in the book, and then slowly arranging for meetings with an official from the shrine. I spent between one and four hours with priests to verify key points, and another one to three hours wandering the shrine grounds and photographing.

A fascinating and unique zuijin guardian figure in the new romon of Oyamatsumi Jinja in the Seto Inland Sea. An interesting combination of zuijin and nio (Buddhist guardians) sheathed in 13th century armor.

4) What were the main difficulties you encountered?
The only difficulty I encountered was the occasional reluctance to grant me the use of photos or of an interview. However this was not usually very difficult to overcome. In some cases I had to go back again and again before getting an OK. However you come to realize that part of it lies in the layers of organization (particularly in some of the larger shrines) and partly what I perceive as a great fear of creating any sort of controversy or taking responsibility for having said something which may cause damage to the shrine. Once people could see that I had a good grasp of their concerns and were convinced of my non-political intentions, there was little difficulty.

The other problem was one of my own making. My initial goal of one hundred shrines proved impossible in terms of pages. When I had more or less completed eighty-eight shrines, I sent it off to the publisher whose initial reaction was that 50% needed to be cut! With some finessing of the layout, I managed to retain 57 shrines but had to out the remaining ones, not to mention a big chunk of the background material on Shinto. I believe I managed to retain most of the major shrines and several smaller shrines that will be of interest to those involved with Japanese arts such as aikido, bugaku, and Noh.

The other major problem was that my long-time publisher, Kodansha International, decided to close their doors in April of 2012—roughly one month after the Great East Japan Earthquake — just as the book was on the layout table. This set the project back more than a year but in the end enhanced the quality, as the new publisher, University of Hawaii Press, has produced an even better version than the original.

The "golden rock" at the Hachioji Jinja of Hiyoshi Taisha in Shiga Prefecture. Thought to be the place where worship on Mt. Hie began, it is situated between the Sannomiyagu and the Ushiogu on top of the 1,200-foot hill.

5) What impressed you the most in compiling the information?
I would say that while I am a lover of traditional architecture (and there is plenty of that in the book), I am always most impressed by people. Although this was not the focus of the book, I think it was the extraordinary kindness of the priests I met which impressed me the most. For example, I thought I had lost my camera on the way to Kifune Jinja outside Kyoto. I had had a meeting with a priest at Heian Jingu, and as I got off the train at Kurama and reached for my camera it had gone! When I finally got to Kifune shrine and announced my name, I head a voice call from the back, ‘Cali san, your camera is here!’ All the miko and priests in the shrine office began to laugh at the look of confusion on my face. It turned out that I had left my camera at Heian Jingu, and the priest there, knowing I was on my way to Kifune, jumped on a train. Since I had taken the long route, he had already delivered it before I got there. This incredible act of kindness was repeated in different form on more than one occasion.

6) What kind of readership do you think the book will appeal to?
Certainly anyone interested in visiting a Shinto shrine. Shrines are not the most accessible places and it is very easy to come away nonplussed. This book will help to make it a more fulfilling experience. I think people interested in Japanese culture generally will also benefit, for it strikes me how much I have learned about Japan from books like Karen Smyer’s The Fox and the Jewel about Fushimi Inari Shrine, or from John Nelson’s A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine about Nagasaki Suwa Shrine.

I hope my book will also appeal to people planning their itinerary for a visit to Japan, as well as those who may not have the opportunity to visit but are interested in the country’s religion and its places of worship. It may also be a good resource book from which to launch further study. With all the spurious information out there on the internet, I think it will be very helpful to have a single source of reliable information that does not cost hundreds of dollars, as many of the scholarly resources on the subject do.

With Noguchi Guji of Isaniwa Jinja in Matsuyama, which is one of the finest examples of Hachiman style in Japan

The following is a review from the Japan Times by author Stephen Mansfield 

A rainy day at the newly constructed Naiku of Ise Jingu, October 28, 2013
(photo by Joseph Cali)

Irrespective of whatever faith you might hold, or if you count yourself among the growing ranks of the agnostic, shrines can be appreciated as much as a cultural experience as a religious one. For native religions to flourish, an appropriate national character or mind-set has to exist.

Accordingly, the writers of this new and much needed guide, two well-established authors on Japanese culture, examine the fertile socio-psychological ground that made it possible for Shinto to secure a firm purchase in Japan.

With no central book, the religion must be practiced and well supported to thrive. Shrines are generally very well maintained in this country. It is a rare case to come across a truly dilapidated one. It would be like abandoning the gods.

While the book covers well-known places of worship like the Meiji and Ise shrines, there are structures that may not be familiar to all readers, like the modest Aiki Jinja in Yoshioka, Tsubusumu Jinja, a shrine located on a small island in Lake Biwa, and Yukoku Inari Jinja in Kyushu, its main structure built on vermilion-colored scaffolding. The guide provides detailed background information on architecture, customs and rituals, clothing, symbolism and much more. It also gives the reader a rundown of all the major deities, a necessarily short list given that there are a whopping 8 million of them.

I’ve always thought of Shinto as a pantheistic belief, the mother faith in many ways of all people, the religion having its roots in the animism and shamanism that defined the practices of many ancient communities in the world.

And with no founders, prophets, miracles, or divine channeling of messages, Shinto may be one of the more credible of today’s faiths, it’s reverence for nature sitting well with the concerns of a green age. Predicated on the idea of coexisting with the forces of nature, rather than exploiting them, there is much to be learned from this non-doctrinal faith and this fine guide to all its intriguing aspects.

The following is a review from the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan's magazine: Acumen 

Not a Buddha but a zuijin guardian figure
peering from inside the entrance of Kibitsuhiko Jinja
in Okayama (photo by Joseph Cali)

Shinto is the indigenous and older of Japan’s two main belief systems (the other being Buddhism, a 6th-century import). It rests on faith in kami (spirits) – although gods is the usual, though slightly misleading, translation – that are to be found in everything, from people and animals, to places and even inanimate objects such as rocks or trees. Thus. it is a faith that is at the same time polytheistic. pantheistic, animistic, and something that is surely special.  Shinto rites and practices are very much alive in today’s Japan. so much so that most Japanese take them for granted and many would be surprised if reminded that they were practising Shintoism.

For the majority of non-Japanese. the most obvious encounter with Shinto is at the many shrines that are all around us (an estimated 80.000 nationwide). Cali and Dougill’s impressive book, presenting itself as a guide to just a select few of these, is far more than that. The introduction is easily the clearest and most accessible explanation of Shinto that I have read. There is an immense amount of detail about the history of Shinto, the types of kami, and how this most Japanese of faiths interrelates with Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity, among other belief systems.

There are numerous helpful illustrations, including ones of the most important features of a typical shrine, as well as of the clothing worn by priests and shrine attendants. In addition, of great interest is the way that the authors pose the question: “What benefit might there be in visiting a shrine for someone who has grown up in another country with different cultural and religious values?” Their answers are compelling.

The authors’ enthusiasm is infectious and the depth of their knowledge, and obvious love and respect for the subject, is evident on every page. Thoroughly researched, well written and cleverly illustrated, the book should be a must-read for anyone wishing to delve into this most fascinating aspect of Japanese culture.

Review

John Dougill, In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians
A Story of Suppression, Secrecy and Survival

Hardcover, 272 pages with color photos. Published by Tuttle, March 10, 2012

As he has done so skillfully in the past with "Kyoto: A Cultural History," John weaves a richly textured fabric of past and present as he takes us through the history of Christianity in Japan from its inception in the sixteenth century, to its suppression in the seventeenth, and the revelation of its survival into the nineteenth century. Like all good narrative histories, it does two things: it educates us about a particular people at a particular point in time, and it brings those people and places to life by walking us over the same ground and letting us discover history not only through the voice of the narrator, but also through the voices of local people and their anecdotes. It is a rewarding and entertaining approach to the telling of history that requires extensive fieldwork as well as exhaustive research. The many guides he enlists along the way help to bring the story into a modern context, showing us clearly what was as well as what has become of the Hidden Christians—known in Japan as Kakure—and their communities, concentrated in the island of Kyushu.

In following the trail of Hidden Christians to the isolated town of Sotome, for example, he invokes the image of their  leader of twenty-three years, Baschian, who illegally kept a calendar of Christian holy days and administered to the hidden flock in lieu of a priest (all of who had been killed or expelled). When finally discovered and arrested, he was severely tortured over a period of more than two years before being beheaded. In evoking the town of Sotome, John introduces us to a center of modern Hidden Christians, Karematsu Jinja, and the Hiden Christian ceremony performed at a modern-day orashio (prayer ceremony) by Murakami Shigenori in the traditional corrupted latin (Benedictus fructus transformed into Benekentsu onha) that sustained the religion through centuries of separation from its mother tongue. In the same chapter we are introduced to another man who came here in search of history; Endo Shusaku, author of the 1965 novel Silence (Chinmoku). Endo was baptized to please his mother at the age of twelve and struggled with the religion and its cultural implications all his life. Endo found in the story of the Portuguese apostate, Christovao Ferreira (1580-1650) a model of the anguish and conflict that he felt himself, and modeled into an antagonist for his fictional priest Sebastian Rodriques. His award-winning novel is due to be relaesed as a film by director Martin Scorsese in 2013. John masterfully mixes the actual history of Ferreira, Endo's telling of it in the context of a novel, and the actual settings and present-day events through which he guides us, to enrich our understanding of a complex issue.

The story of Hidden Christians is not always a pleasant tale to tell, especially for someone who has lived in Japan a long time and can empathize with both sides as John has. While the gruesome scenes of torture inflicted on those who remained true to their faith caused me to momentarily look away from the written page several times, John presents a contextualized view of history by reminding us of the equally horrific events taking place simultaneously in Europe in the name of Christianity. The overall picture of cruelty and compassion—often in the service of politics and financial gain—that emerges from the pages of Hidden Christians, retains both the passion of the subject and the cool eye of the dispassionate observer. The result is a compelling story of repression and resilience and the enduring faith of a now rapidly aging and disappearing community.
For further information see: http://www.greenshinto.com/wp/2012/03/10/hidden-christians-part-one/