What you need to know when visiting a Shinto Temple
Shinto is one of the major religions of Japan (the other one is Buddhism). Shinto is about living in harmony with nature and all things.
We visited 3 Shinto temples during our recent trip to Japan: the Heian Shrine in Kyoto, and the Asakusa Kannon Temple and the Meiji Shrine which are both in Tokyo.
When entering a Shinto shrine, you’ll notice a special gateway made up of wooden or concrete pillars - this is called a torii. The torii is believed to be the gateway to the gods (kami). It separates the ordinary space outside from the sacred space inside so you have to pass through the pillars.
Torii of the Meiji Shrine
Torii of the Asakusa Kannon Temple
Sometimes hanging on the torii, you’ll notice ornaments. Our tour guide said that the tassels represent rain and the trimmings with sharp edges represent lightning.
Torii of the Asakusa Kannon Temple
The grounds of a Shinto Temple is usually covered with white sand or gravel. Walking on gravel produces a sound which is considered part of your cleansing before entering a temple.
Here's the pathway to the Meiji Shrine. It's a long walk - maybe 1 km long from the entrance - and the entire pathway is covered with gravel. The sound you produce while walking makes you very aware of the nature around you.
Long walk to the Meiji Shrine
The Meiji Shrine is located in Shibuya, Tokyo's main shopping district. It's so hard to imagine that in the midst of tall buildings and modern architecture, there's a forest that houses a shrine. According to Wikipedia, the forest is about 700,000 sqm or 175 acres, and there are about 120,000 trees. Wow. At the entrance of Shinto temples, you'll also sometimes see stacks of sake drums which are offerings to the deities.
Before entering the temple, there is also a section where you can wash your hands and rinse your mouth – again this is part of cleansing before worshipping the gods.
Here are some photos of the Asakusa Kannon Temple grounds. Photography is usually banned inside the temple.
Asakusa Kannon Temple Gate
Asakusa Kannon Temple
Asakusa Kannon Temple grounds
At the Meiji Shrine, we chanced upon a ceremony. I think they had this special ceremony for newly-ordained priests. We were only allowed to take photos during the processional.
Shinto priests
In Shinto temples, people write their prayers on a slip of paper and tie them to a tree. People can also purchase small wooden boards called ema where they write their wishes or prayer petitions. The paper or wood board prayers are left outside in the belief that the wind carries the wishes out into the world.
Ema or prayer petitions
In Shinto temples (as well as Buddhist temples), you’ll notice a section where there’s a set of drawers (like the photo below) which contains strips of paper inside. These strips of paper are called O-mikuji which bears a fortune reading. To get an o-mikuji, you usually make a small offering, then pick a stick from a wooden box. The stick has a number and whatever number you pick, look for its corresponding drawer and get your fortune reading from there.
O-mikuji
O-mikuji section at the Asakusa Temple
The fortune could be a big or small blessing and it could be a curse too.When the prediction is bad, you could fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a tree or wall of wires. It is believed that bad luck will wait by the tree rather than attach itself to the bearer. If the fortune is good, the bearer can keep the strip of paper for luck or he/she can also tie it to the tree or wall of wires.
O-mikuji tied to a wall of wires
BTW, if you're visiting the Asakusa Kannon Temple, don't forget to quickly breeze through the Nakamise Shopping street - it's a long strip of stores selling souvenirs and delicacies.
