Japanese Religious Culture

When I moved to the United States after getting married, my first apartment opened directly into the living room. This sounds like a minor thing. It was not. Looking back, it was the first time I began to understand something important about Japanese ideas of cleanliness and space. In Japan, every home has a genkan — a small…

At the computer museum where I volunteer in the United States, there is a shrine. This is not an official shrine, nor is it connected to any religious organisation. It was created by museum volunteers and is dedicated to a fictional deity — Misoroku-no-Mikoto, the patron kami of 36-bit computers. His messengers are a group…

For about six years, I did not return to Japan. My rabbit — a Holland Lop named Plopp — was in poor health for much of his life, and I stayed close to home to look after him. He lived to nearly thirteen. During those years away, the Great East Japan Earthquake happened in 2011,…

When I was about ten years old, my family visited Kamakura. We went to Kotokuin — the temple famous for its Great Buddha, a massive bronze figure sitting serenely in the open air, having long since outlasted the hall that once sheltered it.Interestingly, this wasn’t my only memorable childhood mishap in Kamakura; just down the…

This is a story about a Japanese temple donation system and how shrines and temples stay standing. When I was about five years old, my father took me to Hasedera in Kamakura — one of Kamakura’s most beloved Buddhist temples. The temple was running a fundraising project for roof repairs. Visitors could make a donation…

In Japan, there is no single creator deity at the centre of belief. Instead, the world is understood as being filled with sacred presences found in nature, places, and human relationships. These sacred presences are called kami. Kami are often experienced as spiritual presences that dwell within mountains, rivers, trees, wind, animals, and even places shaped…