Sensoji Festival -
Dragon dance.
Edo Festival
|
There are said to be
eight million kami, many of which are considered to be genderless energy-beings,
yet a number are identified as feminine, what we would call Goddesses.
Asama,
or the Goddess Mt. Fuji, is revered all over Japan with many raised shrines
dedicated to her. Funadama is the Goddess of the ocean, widely
worshipped by Japanese fishermen. Her shrines are niches made in the masts
of ships where many items are kept. She grants good catches!
Kukurihime
is the Goddess who brought Izanami and Izanagi together after
that argued. All three of them are worshipped together. Suijin,
a water Goddess, [sui (water) ten (heaven)] often has shrines
at lakes, ponds, springs and wells. She is sometimes said to take the form
of fish or large, sometimes white, snakes. Women play a key role in her
worship and a few large shrines (Suitengu in Tokyo, for example) are primarily
focused on helping pregnant women deliver safely.
One could go on,
obviously, but this gives a fair introduction to the key Shinto Goddesses.
Though they were influenced by the wave of Buddhism that mutated Japan,
they were (and are) still indigenous to this land. Surfing that Buddhist
wave that swept into this country from India, via Tibet, China and Korea,
rode a number of other hitch-hiking Goddesses whose sects took root in
this fertile Pagan soil. Though they were originally outsiders, like so
many other things, they are now firmly and totally Japanese.
Sensoji Festival -
Touching the lucky Gold Dragon
gives long life.
|
Fireman Festival -
Edo period
firemen tricks.
Edo Matsuri -
"Portuguese" costumes.
|