The Gods Call Upon the Birds

The other day, I went to get my haircut. I go to a beauty salon instead of a barber. I go there because it only costs me 1000 yen plus, I am always satisfied with her work. My hair has strong natural waves. It has become milder but when I was a child, it was all curled up. So if I go to a haircutter that is not so good, my curls will start to grow in a strange way, and within a month, I had to go to get another cut. But with her, my hair grows equally and can hold it for two month. She could imagine how my hair would grow and cut it in the right way.

When I cut my hair, I always realize that my concentration is better. So would it be better to make it bald? I feel that wouldn’t be good. My inspiration comes through the hair. My hair is the yorishiro (寄り代) for the god spirit’s energy to reside. I feel each person has his/her own right length of hair. It has to be the perfect length to get the right inspiration.

The higher priest’s uniform is called ikan-sokutai (衣冠束帯). I don’t know the origin of this design in an academic way, but I can see with my psychic vision that the design is formed by a spiritual foundation. Spiritually, the most important part of the design is the belt that runs from the back of the head down through the neck. This is covering and protecting the spiritual yorishiro part of the body. When the priest is conducting a Shinji (神事) ceremony, I sense that the god’s energy comes and reside on this belt. The miko (巫女) maiden wears a head lei which also has the same function.

The next important part is the extremely long and wide sleeves. If they extend their arms wide, it would probably look like a bird’s feather.

Overall, the figure looks like a bird with its cockscomb.

From the ancient times, gods and the birds had a very important connection. The gods uses the birds as a messenger.

In Izawa-no-miya of Ise, there still exists many rare species of birds. This is a proof that the god still resides at this place.

Sometime ago, I asked god, “who is the most important person in a shrine?” The answer was “the cleaners” rather than the head priest.

From the eyes of the god, the high and low status in the human society is completely upside down. The highest priests who sit behind the tables were considered the most distant to god.

When the high priest voluntarily starts to act on cleaning the sacred ground and act on protecting the forest and the small animals, he will become a true priest.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live