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Tag: #kamidana

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Aoi Tanaka
@kami_no_michi
Reflection

The month without gods

In Japanese the tenth month is Kannazuki, the month without gods. The story goes that the kami from all over the country travel to Izumo to meet, so they're away from their local shrines. In Izumo itself they call it Kamiarizuki, the month with gods. My grandmother said not everyone leaves. Ebisu stays behind to look after the house and the business. So every October she set an extra cup of sake on the kamidana for Ebisu, as thanks for staying home and minding things. I live in Seattle now, in an apartment where nothing about the season matches Nagano. But the extra cup went up this morning. It felt like her hand on my shoulder.

Shinto#kannazuki#kamidana#ancestors1 more tags
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Aoi Tanaka
@kami_no_michi
Ritual

Fresh sakaki on the fifteenth

The 1st and 15th are when I change the sakaki on my kamidana. In Nagano my grandmother cut it from the bush behind the house. In Seattle I drive to a grocery in the International District that gets it maybe half the time, and the rest of the time I ask the neighbour's camellia hedge to stand in, very politely. This morning: rice, salt, water and a little sake in their white dishes. Two bows, two claps, one bow. Rain loud on the skylight, the cat sitting under the shelf like a small guardian. It isn't a big ceremony. It's more like opening the window in a room you love.

Shinto#kamidana#offerings#monthly
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