September 1st, 2015

It's been an interesting day, and I have some news, but I'm probably going to wait to share that on here until I've got all the details hashed out. I did think that I would share a picture with you all, though.

This is where I ended up putting my dragon statue I bought Saturday, on a shelf over my desk. I've attached some warding to the statue, and put an offering of water in the glass dish. He wanted some crystals set around him, so I put a Black Onyx and two Tektites on the shelf as well.

On either side of the statue, I have two Japanese amulets for academic success; to the left is my green Maneki Neko, and to the right is a little mini shrine-shaped amulet I bought at Meiji Jinja in Tokyo.

I also have two little shells sitting there, although they're hard to see in the photo. One shell is holding water, and the other is holding salt. I don't have a Kamidana at this point in time, although I would like to acquire one. In the meantime, I am using the shells to hold offerings to the Kami.

July 16th, 2014

I decided I'd round out my Japan posts with photos of all the lucky charms (omamori) I bought from different shrines and temples. For the sake of scale, all of these are between one and three inches long.

From Itsukushima:

A general "good fortune" talisman, embroidered with the island deer.

A talisman for good luck in academics, taking exams, etc.

From Kinkakuji:

A "traffic safety" amulet, which I'm assuming extends likewise to safety during travel.

From Kiyomizudera:

A squishy little talisman portraying the god of business success.

A dragon talisman for good fortune.

From Jishu:

A talisman for improving "the luck in love of one's zodiac sign". I'm a Pisces.

From Meiji:

I was so worried that I'd lost this one because I couldn't find it the other day, but when I got my keychain holding all of these out to take pictures, there it was! This amulet promotes oneness of the mind and body.

The writing on this carved wood reads "kodama", which is the Japanese word for "tree spirit" (similar to the European dryad). These spirits of the forest are generally benign, unless their tree is attacked, in which case they may curse the person who cut it. According to the Meiji shrine website, these wooden bells are made from the wood of sacred trees which have finished guarding the shrine precinct and allow for the oneness of human spirit and nature.

And then there's this: my little desktop shrine for academic excellence.

All of these are definitely coming to college with me.

Meiji Shrine

Of all the historical sites we visited in Japan, the Meiji Shrine was by far the newest, having been founded in 1912 to honor the Meiji Emperor's role in the Meiji Restoration. Construction began in 1915, and was completed in 1921. The original building was destroyed in WWII, but has since been rebuilt.

All of these are empty sake (rice wine) barrels donated to the shrine annually as an offering. The writing gives the brand name; many companies have been donating barrels every year since the establishment of the shrine.

The Torii gate is enormous. The three gold medallions are the Imperial Seal - sixteen petalled chrysanthemums, a repeating motif throughout the shrine grounds. 

This is the interior of the shrine.

These boards, called "ema", are available for purchase by patrons for the equivalent of $5 (500 yen); one writes a personal prayer or petition on it, and the following morning the shrine priests bless them and hang them on the displays around the tree. That rope around the trunk? It's a special Shinto decoration demarcating sacred space.

I was not exactly clear on whether the bonsai tree display was a year-round thing or if it was a temporary exhibit, but while I was there, the shrine was exhibiting lots of donated bonsais. This particular specimen was 300 years old.
Not exactly pictured is the forest surrounding the shrine, with hundreds of thousands of trees, all of which were donated and planted when the shrine was first established. It's an absolute delight to walk through. Not only is it stunningly beautiful, but you get a real sense of both history and magick, like the trees know something you don't and are whispering about it to each other. That's what I thought, anyway.
The Meiji Shrine had some of the coolest amulets, in my opinion, so I got a couple of them. One was a mini wooden shrine for improving academic excellent, another was a wooden sphere for the union of spirit and nature, and the third was a silver charm for the union of body and soul. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the latter; it's possible that it got mixed up in the packaging when I was taking my things out of my suitcase, which is somewhat upsetting. Still, I figure that if it's meant to come back to me, I'll find it sooner or later.