May 8, 2013

Arabito Jinja

 The roof I saw yesterday was the shrine's. However, I was entering from the back so there was no torii. The statue inside this little building appears to be Amida, who is part of Buddhism, not Shinto, but the paper streamers hanging from the straw rope are definitely Shinto. Historically in Japan, there has been a merging of Buddhism and Shinto so it is never surprising to find evidence of both religions at a single site.

The shrine is called Arabito Jinja, a special reading of the kanji. The first kanji is usually pronounced gen and means actual or real and the second it hito or jin meaning person. So a normal reading of the name would be genjin jinja. However, the map that I had picked up at Mirigaroden Nakagawa had the correct pronunciation written over the kanji - Arabito Jinja.
 The previous picture showed a wall on the right. When I looked around it, I found a Buddhist altar. It is possible but I could not determine it without talking to the priest of this site, that this Buddhist section has a completely different name.
 Large old trees have a particularly strong presence in Shinto and are often treated as representations of the gods.
 This was the largest building and obviously the main shrine. The statue of the lion guards against evil influences.
 Walking out into the main area in front of the above building, I noticed a torii off to the side with a small building behind it.
Actually it turned out that there were two small buildings and a stele. The doors on the altars were closed and there were no signs so I do not know what they are celebrating.

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