2016年9月23日金曜日 - 
William: Fushimi Inari Shrine Part 1
Greetings
from the rocky shores of Newfoundland, Canada!
I'm
very excited to finally be living in Japan, having always dreamed of doing so
as a child and for many years since. However, this is not my first time coming
here; in 2015, as I was finishing up my final year of university, I took an
exchange semester at Kansai Gaidai University,
in Hirakata city in Osaka. It was the perfect way to end off my university
career, and since I only needed to do electives, I was able to pick whatever
courses I liked.
One
of the courses I took involved Shinto, a big part of Japanese spiritual and
cultural identity. Ever since, I've been fascinated by the allure of different Shinto (and
Buddhist) shrines that litter the Japanese landscapes, and none have captured my
imagination and obsession more than Fushimi Inari.
Located
in Kyoto, Fushimi Inari is the biggest shrine in Japan dedicated to Inari, the kami (god)
of… well, many things. He's often depicted as a fox, though some insist he is actually an old man, and
others propose he's a flying horse. He has
been attributed
to
rice, profit, and luck, and many people leave prayers for him at the shrine.
These prayers take many different forms.
Some
of them are written on pieces of paper and tied to strings, or trees.
Others
are written on miniaturized torii gates of varying
sizes (and prices). These are laid around the shrine until the numbers get too great, then are collected
and burned at the Upper Shrine located on top of the mountain. Fortunately,
burning is not a disposal
of
the wish or prayer, but rather a transformation of it, permanently making the wish
part of the realm of the kami.
Other
wishes are made on ema. Ema are small wooden plaques, often five-sided (sort of
like a house with a roof) that usually bear kami's likeness, or perhaps
an animal of the
Chinese zodiac,
or some other form of significance. Inari's ema are remarkable in that they are shaped differently,
with six sides instead of five, made to resemble a white fox head with narrow
eyes. One charming aspect of Fushimi Inari is the light-hearted and often comical faces people
have drawn on them, in addition to the usual wish or prayer.
semester：学期
electives：選択科目
fascinated by：～に心惹かれていた
allure：魅力
litter：散在する
obsession：妄想
dedicated to：～に捧げられている
depicted：描かれている
insist：主張する
propose：建議する
attributed to：～に帰属する
tied to strings：紐に結びつける
miniaturized：小型化された
laid around：周りに建てられている
disposal of：処分する
rather：むしろ
realm：領域
plaques：プレート
the Chinese zodiac：十二支
significance：意義
remarkable：顕著な
resemble：～のような
light-hearted：陽気で