NOZAWAONSEN, Japan — Here in the foothills of the Japan Alps, a procession of villagers was moving through the frigid darkness, guided by a robed man holding a glowing paper lantern. On a night when ...

Ancient Shinto masked dances of the Edo Festival Troupe, Tokyo, marked the resumption of Asia Society's Performing Arts Program in 1971. (Asia Society) In 1971, Asia Society renewed its Performing ...

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 29, No. 3/4, Tracing Shinto in the History of Kami Worship (Fall, 2002), pp. 209-232 (24 pages) The Procedures of the Engi Era (Engi shiki) contain ...

Every 20 years, Ise Jingu — the most revered Shinto shrine in Japan — is knocked down and rebuilt from scratch, a tradition that has been carried out for more than a millennia. The Ise Jingu is a ...

When uncounted thousands have died in a disaster such as last week's earthquake and tsunami, where will the Japanese people find spiritual strength? Experts on Japanese culture say they'll find it in ...

This article explores the part Shinto has played in Japanese life and culture throughout the country's history, and its shared its spiritual, cultural, and political roles with Buddhism and ...

Only men can put the mystical Okinoshima on their UNESCO World Heritage Sites must-see list. The sacred Japanese island, among several added in 2017 to the prestigious list of monuments with ...

Kami is the ordinary Japanese word for God. It means primarily above, superior, and is applied to many other things besides deities, such as nobles, the authorities, the "missus," the hair of the head ...

An ancient Shinto shrine in Tokyo became a crime scene on Thursday after an apparent family feud escalated into a tragic murder-suicide. A 56-year-old man named Shigenaga Tomioka attacked his ...