Don’t think of Kami like your Personal Servant

御祈祷(go-kitō) or 祈願 (kigan) is a ceremony to offer gratitude to kami (god) in hopes that we receive continuous protection. The shrine offers two types of gokitō, 御饌(mike) and 神楽(kagura). Both the Naigū (Inner Shrine) and Gaigū (Outer Shrine) provide a Kaguraden (a ceremonial hall). And the priests and the maidens will performs in front of kami as the conveyor on behalf of the offerer. (quote from Ise-Jingu official website)

I feel, using these two words, 祈祷 (kitō)・祈願 (kigan) should be reconsidered at this time.

Because these two words or Chinese characters are used, the people misunderstand the way to worship a kami.

These letters were used by the influence of Buddhism, and it has a hidden meaning such as curse, win, battle and request personal desires. They are all self-centered evil attitudes of human and what kami dislikes.

Most people think that kami is there to ask for wishes. That is a misfortune. Why is it a misfortune?

You are asking kami for your personal desires to come true. This is a rude attitude towards a kami, and most people do not know about it. This is happening because the priests of today’s shrines cannot sense the kenzokus (the spirits that protects the kami). They have forgotten the osore - the reverence towards kami.

How would you feel if your child come to you, hand you a small coin and say “I pay you this much so would to make a move to make my wish come true?”

Do you think the kami who has given you life and who is completely in the position of justice would say “yes, I shall make it happen” to every personal desires?

If your wish comes true, there will always be someone in trouble on the other side. That is how the balance is created in this society. Is that what you want?

If my child came to me to ask for a wish, because I love him I would really want to make it happen. But then, I think whether it would be good for him. I might secretly help him make it happen. But I would never say yes to everything he asks for. Sometimes, I would scold him that it’s not going to happen and life is not that easy.

You shouldn’t be asking for small details to the almighty god. Simply send gratitude for what you have at this moment, for being alive. Put your heart to it. The energy of gratitude will reach to kami. And if he thinks you need help, he shall help you. The gratitude prayer would work much stronger than a wishful prayer. Wishful thinking should be left in your daily moments to encourage and bring focus to yourself.

It is the shrine’s responsibility to have led the mass to a wrong way of praying.

When you are asking for a formal prayer (mike or kagura) the priest would ask what the purpose would be? And give you a list. Select 神恩感謝 (shin-on-kansha) gratitude sending to kami. Some shrines don’t even have this on the list. What a shame.

If the shrine does not have this in their listing, ask for 家内安全 (kanai-anzen), safety of family. During the ceremony, think as you are offering this to kami rather than asking for protection and be in gratitude.

The energy of gratitude will create 神気 (shinki), divine energy. The energy you send will always come back to you and change your life in someway.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Twenty years of visiting Ise - Part 2

At the shrine office of Gegū, we applied to receive the Daidai Kagura ceremony. On the application, you write one person’s name to represent your group and the number of total attendance. Then you choose what kind of prayer you want. I chose the “gratitude sending to the gods”. Next time, I want to do it for “the security of the Japanese nation.”

This time, we came together with my own sister’s family. I sat down at the waiting lounge, thinking that this will be a good cultural education for our children. Maybe because it was early in the morning, there was no one else waiting. The waiting lounge was spacious, very clean and free drinks were prepared. The bathroom was very clean too. We waited for about 20 minutes and a priest came to lead us to the inner shrine.

After a brief prayer chanted by a priest, two kami-miko, shrine maiden, held a ceremony to offer shin-fuda (a charm that represents a God) and shin-sen (food offerings – dried bonito, squid and tangle). This was marvelous. One of the kami-miko brought the food offerings to the entrance of the oratory. The other kami-miko receives the offerings and places it to the altar. The kami-miko goes back and forth few times in front of the attendance and the two miko’s timing is so perfect to the details. When the kami-miko comes to the center of the oratory, she would once slightly bend her knees before she continues to walk toward the entrance. This feels like she is expressing greetings to the attendance and at the same time, giving a sign to the other maiden to match the timing of their movement. Throughout the ceremony, these two kami-miko impressed me the most. I had witnessed god spirits behind these maidens who are probably still under 20 years old. There were higher rank priests around them but the god spirits only resided around the two maidens. I sometimes see kami-miko’s of today, who are not so pure and having fun in their private lives. But these kami-miko’s at The Grand Shrine of Ise are keeping themselves very pure. I sense they do not have much of a private life. They are true virgins who god spirits reside.

This time, I learned one more thing. It was the prayer chanted by an upper rank priest before the Kagura, offering dance. I had never heard of this chant before. It was chanted very slowly in a soft gentle manner like talking a story. The unique vocalization emanated the gentle energy of The Grand Shrine of Ise.

If you would like to offer a prayer, the basic Okagura (15,000yen) is sufficient. It was very expensive for us, but receiving a special charm to bring home, and the whole ceremony with fresh local food offerings was totally worth it.

The received charm did not fit into my altar at home. So I added a wooden holder for the charm attached to the left side of the altar. Even if you don’t have an altar at home, this charm is very thick, so it will stand on its own. If you can, please offer sakaki leaves and water. The energy from the god spirits will then be able to reside. If you cannot use sakaki leaves, at least, offer a bowl of water and change it once in a while.


Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live