The Living Traditions of Japan
Discover the shrines, deities, legends, customs, and everyday practices that continue to shape life in Japan.
I’m a Japanese shrine lover sharing the places, stories, and traditions that continue to inspire and fascinate me.
👉New to Japanese Shrines & Temples?
Start with our beginner’s guide to understand the basics before exploring Japan’s sacred traditions.
My Tokyo shrine pilgrimage book is
now available as a PDF
🔍 EXPLORE BY TOPIC👀
What Would You Like To Explore?
Each category opens a different door into Japan’s sacred world.
Choose the one that interests you most.
Shinto Traditions & Beliefs
Shinto beliefs, rituals, and traditions that shape Japan’s shrines, kami worship, and spiritual practices.
Japanese Religious Culture
An exploration of Japan’s religious landscape, including Shinto, Buddhism, and the cultural practices shaped by both traditions.
Japanese Sacred Geography
Sacred sites, legends, and spatial narratives of Japan where geography and belief intertwine.
Buddhist Traditions & Sacred Figures
Buddhist deities, protective spirits, and the warrior traditions of devotion in Japan, where faith and the battlefield intertwine.
✏️…Latest Articles
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Tenkai: The Monk Who Read Heaven into Edo
The first time I traced the seven Masakado sites on a paper map, connecting them in the order I’d visited them, I did what apparently…
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The Rabbit Before the Moon
Japan’s oldest rabbit story, and what it left behind There is a book called the Kojiki(古事記) — compiled over thirteen hundred years ago, one of…
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The Rabbit That Meant Something Different in Japan
On moons, battlefields, shrines, and why I keep collecting rabbits THE RABBIT PROBLEM I collect rabbit things. Over the years, I have come to understand…
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The Zodiac That Changed When It Crossed the Sea – Why Japan’s zodiac animals are not quite the same as China’s
Japanese zodiac animals are not quite the same as those in China, and the differences tell a much deeper cultural story. Japan loves cats. Which…
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Masakado and Myōken: The Warrior Who Followed the North Star
The first thing that stopped me at Chiba Shrine was not the deity. It was the building. In the weeks before I visited, I had…
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Nenjibutsu: Why Japan’s Warriors Carried Buddha into Battle
On my desk sits a small figure holding a sword. It is a statue of Fudō Myōō — one of Buddhism’s most fierce-looking deities, typically…
