Hidden Shrines of Ise 4

After leaving Izawa-no-miya, we went to a close by shrine, Saminaga-jinjya (佐美長神社). This was my first visit. It was a small shrine with no live-in priest but a clean and pure place. The wonderfully strange thing about the shrines in Ise is that no matter how small the shrines are they are all in a very sacred condition. The basic construction of the shrine is much like the main shrines of Ise. But the purity of the place could not be kept only by the form of its construction. I looked around to see the surrounding forest to find the answer to why the place feels so sacred. I looked down to the ground. The ground with small pebbles had no falling leaves. If no one had been here, the ground would be full of leaves in a day or two. This means that some one is coming here every day to clean the property. The time and effort spent to clean this place is priceless. A person who lives as god, who knows that he is god would do such thing. He cares. He cares for the nature and brings life to the trees and even to the small pebbles. Human beings are also part of the nature dynamics.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Hidden Shrines of Ise - 3

After visiting the Izawa Jinjya, we sent to Izawa-no-miya (伊雑宮). On the road towards Izawa-no-miya. I was experiencing a very heavy weight on my back. I understood it was Kunitsu-kami (国津神) and other gods who ended their lives. As I started to walk the sando path, one step at a time the heaviness seem to go away. When you come to the middle of the path, you will see a well in the forest. When I thought that Princess Yamato-hime-no-mikoto had also come here to purify herself before making a vow, I became emotional.

From Heian Period (794~), the local people had repeatedly claimed that Izawa-no-miya is in fact the main shrine to worship Amaterasu-Ohomikami. During the Edo Period (1603~), they claimed that the Naiku is a lower rank shrine and they were punished. Fifty village people were exiled and died leaving their sorrow behind.

The sai-jin (祭神), official god of Geku is Toyouke-Ookami (豊受大神). Toyouke-Ookami, Amaterasu-Ohomikami and Kunitoko-tachi-kami is actually one and the same. And the local Shintoist called Watarai Family claimed that these gods are the supreme gods. This family is local to the area where Izawa-no-miya reside. It shows that the local people were very passionate about the gods. 

Why were they so devoted to worship the gods? The answer comes from rice making culture. The area where Izawa-no-miya resides has always been a rice-making district from the ancient times. Therefore the local people were financially wealthy as well. When you are well off, you have more peace of mind and able to have the sense of gratitude towards the gods. Mysteriously, as long as they held the rituals and worshipped the gods, they never had problems in the rice production. Even when the other areas were not doing so good, they never had any kind of damage. This is because the goddess Amaterasu-Ohomikami who brought rice (kome) into this world reside at Izawa-no-miya. This shrine existed way before Naiku was establised over two thousand years. If the scientists could dig the area and research the remains, I am sure they will find that the shrine already existed around the Jōmon Period (12000~ 3000 years ago).

Izawa-no-miya’s official god crescent is a kagome (篭目紋). Its design is identical to the Star of David, the Jewish symbol, but the history of the usage is much older in Izawa-no-miya.

There are common factors in the Hebrew and Japanese culture. In the Jewish tradition, “mana” is a food that grows inside a pot, a soul food that was given by World of God. “Kome (rice)” also increases its amount when it is bowled in a pot. I sense that “mana” and “kome” has a similar sound vibration. The word “money” originally comes from the word “mana” of the Jewish tradition. In the West Japan, they believe that the financial market is based on the price of rice. I think that god's idea of “money” is “food.” If you try to save too much food, it will eventually rot. Before it rots, it should be shared with others.

The word “mana” also exists in Hawai'i. Its meaning is “the divinity from the highest source.” I sense that in the ancient times, the continent that existed on the Pacific Ocean of today use to be the place of origin for rice farming. When that continent sank, people escaped to places like Hawai’i and Ise. Carrying the common ancient knowledge they had no choice but to travel to find a new home around the Pacific Rim.


Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Hidden Shrines of Ise - 2

“Alright, where shall we go next?” Mr.H is thinking… “There is a very old shrine by the beach in Toba. The road is very narrow and hard to get there. Do you want to try?” Something told me that I should go there. So we went. We went into the very narrow trail in the middle of the town. There was no sign about a shrine. Not only was it extremely narrow but very bumpy, up hills and down hills. I was so glad that no car came from the other side. Finally we were able to pass through the foresty trail and came to a small beach. We parked the car and walked towards the torii gate.

The shrine was called Izawa-jinjya (伊射波神社). The sando path towards the shrine was very long steep and old. The stairs were worn away. When I had climbed up about a hundred meters, I turned around. The blue ocean was there with the torii in front. Suddenly, a vision came to me. The scene was in the super ancient time. A creature was climbing up the path that I am walking right now. The creature’s top half is a man and bottom half is a crocodile. Her stomach is big. I can tell she is pregnant. The path, sando (参道), can also be read as “the birth path” (産道). The creature gave birth at the top of the hill where the shrine was standing. My retainer told me that this is “Toyotama-hime.”

Turtles and other creatures come to the sand to lay their eggs. This custom has been the same since the ancient times. I think the orginal meaning of Ubusuna (産土) is “the soil of a mountain.” The direct translation of Ubusuna is “the sand of birth.” Maybe because the soil in the mountain could better preserve the eggs than the sand near the ocean, the creature went all the up to the top of the mountain.

Ubusuna means "the sand for the birth.” From the vision, this idea became clear in my head.

Once before, when I had visted Kinpirak-gu (金比羅宮) in Shikoku, I also envisioned half man half crocodile creature going up the path towards a shrine.

In the super ancient times, I believe that in a short period of time, there were creatures like half man half crocodile around the Pacific Rim. Around this time, the world wasn’t still completely materialistic. The earth was still experiencing a dimension where creatures were half spirit half material.

In the Japanese mythology, we see half man half animal type of creatures. It looks like a cartoon and unreal, but it is simply showing the truth of the old days. The modern science is totally ignoring this fact. They will never come to understand the truth about the beginning of human race if they cannot accept that we used to be half spirit or ghost at one point.


This shrine, Izawa-jinjya (伊射波神社) has the same name as Izawa-no-miya in The Grand Shrine of Ise. These two shrines are not so far apart. Izawa means to “bring things in peace to make oneness.” It also hides a deeper metaphor about the goddess Kukuri-hime who brought Izanagi and Izanami together. The hidden key goddess in the Japanese history.

Toba is a wonderful place, full of shrines with living gods in existence. To be continued…

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Hidden Shrines of Ise - 1

A local man of Ise, Mr. H and I planned to make a trip to visit secret sites. We met at the parking lot of Gekū. He says, “Well lets see… where shall we go.. hmmm… Lets go to a place most people wouldn't know.” There was an entrance behind the parking lot of Naikū. There was a small shrine close to the entrance. He said it is Uji Shrine. An Uji-gami, a regional god who protects the Naikū region, resides at this shrine. The shrine has another name “God of Feet.” Mr. H said that a famous marathon runner comes to this shrine before his race.

We went further deep inside the forest tracing the source of Isuzu River. When we were passing the shrine, I sensed a presence of a strong fox spirit. Unfortunately, today wishful prayer business is thriving and the real purpose of the shrine is hidden. But according to Mr.H, this shrine has been here even before the establishment of the Naikū and has been a sacred place for the local people of Ise. Some people say that this shrine could be the original Ise Shrine. At this point, my Kenzoku-shin, a retainer god, reacted. So I decided to pay a visit to this shrine on the way back. The road becomes very narrow from here. This whole area is a sacred land. Only the local people and the priests are allowed to enter. The road was very narrow but there were quite a few local people driving down the road. It took quite a skill to pass by. The land around the Isuzu River was once owned by the Ise Shrine, but after loosing the WWII it was controlled by the GHQ and later sold to the commoners.

The river became narrower as we went further up. What surprised me was the size of the rocks. In this narrow river, there were numerous rocks in the size of a house. I have never seen such a place. Giant rocks are called Iwakura (磐座) where god spirits reside. The rocks hold the memory of the electro-magnetic energy of the god spirits. The bigger the size the more it can hold the energy. I feel that one of the reason why Amaterasu-Ohomikami chose this place, Ise, as the central sacred land is because of its geological formation. I would assume that many giant rocks as big as a house exist under Naikū and Gekū. And those rocks could hold an immense amount of energy of the god spirits.



After observing the giant rocks, we returned to Uji Shrine. At the main shrine, the name of the worshipped god was stated on a board. However, there were other names of a historically famous people written on 30 poles next to the god’s name. That was a little bit awkward for me.

When I went to the front of the main shrine and looked up to the small mountain behind it, I felt the shinki (神気), a sense of the divine. I would assume that this small mountain is made out of one giant rock. I could see in the ancient times, people used to worship all of these giant rocks as Iwakura. The rumor about this shrine being the original Naikū may well be true.


We continued our journey to go to another hidden shrine. (to be continued)

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Be Aware of the Sunray

My friend decided to do a laser treatment on his face to take off a spot. When he was young, he used to love going to the beach and played a lot of golf. He was always tanned. He was a salesman, so his wife thought that it’s better to get rid of it. His problem was just a small spot, but a recent survey shows that people with skin cancer is increasing all over the world as the ozone layer decreases.

There are people who have UV ray allergy. If they go out in the sun, they will create poison inside their body that could be fatal. They have to be covered or stay indoor their entire time. Healthy people are able to detoxicate this poison in their liver. But from now own, when the sunray becomes stronger, how much will we able to detoxicate? We still need some amount of sun exposure. But do be careful that you do not stay out in the sun for too long between 10am and 4pm. At the Poles and places like Australia near the equator, people are already extremely cautious. I think even in Japan, we should start wearing sunglasses and sunblocks. I am much concerned about children.

When I was thinking about “skin problem, ” a vision came to me. It was about the “Inaba-no-Shiro-usagi” (因幡の白兎), the Japanese mythology about a white rabbit. It is said to be a story from Izumo, but my understanding is that it happened between Noto Penninsula and China (Inaba-no-kuni). One reason to be recorded in the mythology is as a metaphor to indicate the trading problems between China. Another reason is to predict the skin decease occurrence in the future. The prophecy tells that at a time when problems occur with the trading business between Japan and China, there will be many people suffering from skin deceases. The mythology tells that the way to treat the skin decease is rub the skin with sea salt and make the pus come out from the skin, then wash off with fresh water and apply the pollen of cattail. I am not sure if this would work or what it may imply…

In any case, please be aware that the sunray is getting stronger. We really cannot avoid the sun but it is better to protect your skin as much as you can.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

The True Intention of Nichiren - Part 3

Nichiren told his two disciples that he respects Buddha a great deal, but moreover he respects his motherland Japan. He confessed that he went to Ise Jingu(The Grand Shrine of Ise) before he began his journey to swear he would lead the nation to reconnect with Amaterasu-Ohomikami through the Hokkekyo.

He showed them the mandala he had written where Amaterasu-Ohomikami was placed in the center of the scroll. And said that he wanted to lead his followers to believe in worshipping Amaterasu-Ohomikami, the Goddess of Japan, and asked his two top disciples if they could support him on this idea.

The two disciples were shocked to hear this. For a very long time, regarded as heretics, they have sacrificed their time and effort believing that Hokkekyo was the ultimate teaching of Buddhism. They have propagated and gathered many followers and donations. They believed that it was done all through their effort and Nichiren did not know how much work they had sacrificed to reach this far. Even for the sake of the founder, they just could not allow the organization to fall down because of Nichiren’s (the founder), drastic act. So the two top disciples both agreed on something. They decided to put a small amount of poisonous herb in Nichiren’s food every day. Nichiren became weaker and weaker as the time went by.

Nichiren knew that his food was poisoned but he did not stop eating. He felt that it was his way of repentance towards many of his disciples who had been killed through the act of propagation. Until the end of his time, he thought more for his disciples and the nation than his own life.

Nichiren had written three mandalas with Amaterasu-Ohomikami in the center and a pronouncement for his belief in Amaterasu-Ohomikami. But after his death, the disciples had burned them all leaving no trace.

The two disciples continued to develop the Buddhist sect. However, later the two had some disagreements and decided to make two different paths. Even after the separation, they were constantly in fear about the fact that they killed the founder and erased the documents with his true intention. From this fear, they strictly prohibited their followers to visit a Shinto shrine.

The god spirit who had given me this information clearly mentioned the disciples’ names, but I had decided not to reveal it. But I can say that what they did at that time, still reflect on their descendents or followers of today.

Nichiren’s grand goal through the teachings of Hokkekyo was to lead the nation to reconnect with the Sun.

I sincerely wish that the successful religious sects of today who are the followers of Nichiren would have the chance to read this to know the truth of Nichiren’s intention and to follow it. To ackowledge the fact that Nichiren had visited Ise Jingu for a hundred days before he began his propagation and the fact that he had written the name of the sun goddess in the center of his hand made mandala.

This story is dedicated to Nichiren who lived his life with great passion towards his beloved motherland Japan.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

The True Intention of Nichiren - Part 2

Nichiren has been claiming the Shika Kakugen (四箇格言) criticizing other Buddhist sects that all other teachings were evil, leading to no-attainment. His passionate propagation reached the ears of Bakufu (government) who were believers of another Buddhist sect. Nichiren was arrested for his antigovernment activity. He received a beheading death sentence. At the execution ground of Tatsu-no-kuchi, when he was going to have his head cut off, it is said that two balls of light came to the ground trying to disturb the execution.

With my psychic vision, I can see that the executor attempted three times. The first two times, the executor heard a strange sound from the light balls that scared him off. He still attempted the third time but was paralyzed and couldn’t move his arms at all. The officers were troubled by this unusual incident and reported to the Bakuhu. When the message was delivered to the Bakufu, some of the officers witnessed the light balls at the government house as well. The Bakuhu announces to stop the execution.

When Nichiren from sitting on the execution ground, he was repeating “Namu-Kanzenon-Bosatsu, Amaterasu-Ohomikami.”As it has been documented in the Hokkekyo, those who are calling for the Kannon shall be protected by the power of Kannon and no sword can come against it, and with no doubt, Nichiren believed that he cannot be touched. Those thoughts of his had attracted the light balls that are spirits sent through the light of Amaterasu-Ohomikami.


Nichiren, although able to avoid death, was condemned to exile. During his time of exile, he had the time to look back on his own behavior. And when his time was over, he started writing a Hokkekyo mandala. Later in history, when a sect was established after his belief, the organization had made his madala as their principal image. Usually a statue of Buddha is placed on an altar, but in his sect, the mandala was placed. The divine body was replaced with letters. On the madala, the letters“Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō”(南無妙法蓮華経) was written in the center. Around those letters, names of bosatsus were placed. Curiously enough, just one name from a Shinto god was placed on this same mandala. It was Amaterasu-Ohomikami. This signifies the intention of Nichiren.

In his early stage of writing the mandala, Nichiren wrote Amaterasu-Ohimikami at the lower end of the scroll. As the time passes and his sect grew larger, he began writing Amaterasu-Ohomikami on the higher end of the scroll. But he never explained the reason to his disciples. When his sect had grown big enough, his final intention appears on the mandala. He wrote Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō in very small letters, in a shape of a lotus flower on the lower part of the scroll. And wrote Amaterasu-Ohomikami in large letters on the center of the scroll as if she was standing on the lotus flower. When two of his closest disciples saw this mandala, they were astonished. They followed Nichiren for many years as a Buddhist. They were also established in their position in the organization as leaders. After seeing this mandala, they made an unexpected move. To be continued…

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live