All articles
Why Sakaki Belongs on the Kamidana — Its Origin in the Kojiki and How to Care for It at Home
The sakaki (a sacred evergreen) offered on a kamidana (a household shrine) marks the boundary between the realm of the kami and our own. This article traces its origin to the Amano-Iwato scene in the Kojiki and explains when to replace it, why domestic sakaki lasts longer, and what to do when it withers.
What Was Lost Was Not Horizontal Connection: What We Gave Up in Homes Without a Kamidana
The second installment argues that what the nuclear family lost was not cohabitation but the vertical axis of time running from ancestors to descendants, sets psychological research on children who know their family history beside the old Japanese words wakemitama and nakaima, and shows how that axis can be restored even in a 2DK apartment.
How to Clap Kashiwade: Clearing Negative Ki and Reading the Ki of a Place
The clap at a Shinto shrine is more than a gesture of thanks. It clears negative ki and calls the kami. Here is the formal way to clap, with the right hand slightly lowered, and how to use it at mountains, rivers, your own home, and places you travel to.
Why Your Home Has No Kamidana: The Answer Was Drawn on a Blueprint in 1951
Japan's shift to the nuclear family was not simply "the tide of the times." This first installment traces it, through statistics and records, to the combined force of the 1947 revision of the Civil Code, the 51C standard floor plan for public housing of 1951, and an economy that grew as households split apart.
How to Keep Ofuda and Omamori in a Home Without a Kamidana
Even in an apartment or rented home with no kamidana (a household shrine), you can keep ofuda (shrine talismans) and omamori (amulets) with real care. A Shinto priest explains how to think about the kamidana, where to place an ofuda, how it differs from an omamori, and how to look after them day to day.
Love Is the Single Step Where You Turn and Look Back
We tend to think of love as the force that pushes us forward. Yet after conducting a shinzenshiki, a Shinto wedding rite, I felt the opposite: love appears at the moment we stop walking. This article reads the Japanese words ji and ai to ask why the thread of a family does not break.