The Light Poles

     According to one of my blog reader, a thick light pole was witnessed around 8am on August 27^th in the middle of the outer and inner shrine of Ise Jingu, The Grand Shrine of Ise. This photo was taken elsewhere (August 18^th between Osaka and Kobe during a thunder lightening) but it looked just like this high from the sky all the way down to the ground. It was seen for over five minutes.

     The informer told me the thick light pole was seen over Yamatohime-no-miya of Ise Jingu for over five minutes. He is a family member of a Shinto priest and has lived in this area for a very long time.  So when he says it was over Yamatohime-no-miya, I could trust that his information is fairly accurate. It feels to me like it was a sign that Goddess Yamato has revived. The light poles that would stand on the grounds of Ise was one of the main theme when I started to write this blog. The things I had written in 2007 are now being witnessed in 2012. I have mixed feelings about the fact that the visions that came into my brain are now actually occurring in this dimension. I am not quite sure if I should be enjoying it or need to be concerned.

     In any case, the appearance of the light pole is a sign that the world is changing. The values in this material world are shifting to non-material. It’s becoming more about the heart. The good will would be valued more and more. Eventually we will see a world where people are helping each other. It may take centuries  to see the perfect world but even seeing 0.1% of the changes would give a huge impact to the humans. The new theories in the law of physics will be discovered and reexamined. We will see many changes towards the ultimate world peace.  And at the end, our future will be in an amazing place.


     The reason why I am putting up the series of words from my favorite ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi is because these ideas are necessary in order to manifest world peace. There will be no more war and the good willed intelligent people would come up with ideas to save humanity.

     “A savior” in my mind, is not one person but the intelligence or knowledge of gathered humans. When the China of today once again utilizes the knowledge of Laozi, they would become an amazing country. The Western countries could also learn so much from his words.

     The inner and outer shrines of Ise Jingu are bipolar. As Laozi talked about ying and yang and the Five Elements, I sense the same idea is functioning in these shrines. The outer shrine is connected to the North Star. I sense this shrine is the only sacred place that linked the North Star with accuracy.  In my knowledge the North Star(Polaris) = the heart of Laozi.   

 



    The first step for you is to see the goodness in your daily life and have the sense of gratitude. Have a bigger vision. This will help your area/community to become stable. It is full moon today. The gravity may start to influence us once again.  Take a deep breath and relax. Safe driving.  Raise awareness of disaster prevention.

Ikashite-itadaite arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

* Thank you for reading this blog. Next update will be after Septemer 9th.

Being ordinary is better

    This photo was taken by one of the attentive reader of my blog. I sense he has a strong connection with Ise Jingu (The Grand Shrine of Ise).

    Every year around the time of chushu no meigetsu (autumn full moon), Ise Jingu holds a festival. They put out a contest for tanka and haiku (traditional Japanese style short and long poems). The selected best poems are read along with the traditional musical performance as offerings to the gods. The ceremony is called Jingu kangetsu-kai and it is held on the day of full moon somewhere between August and September. It is usually held at the Gegū (the outer shrine) but this year it was held at Naigū (the inner shrine) due to some construction.

     The authors of the selected poems are invited to attend the ceremony. At the lower end of the photo, the eboshi hat worn by the gakushi (ceremonial players of instruments) is showing. The “e” of eboshi means bird. All shrine priests and music players wear this hat that signifies a bird. The ancient Shinto understanding is that the birds are messengers of the gods. The reason why the symbolic creature is not a dragon or a snake is because the gods are trying to show us the future where the Time of the Phoenix (bird) will come after going through a long period of the Time of the Dragon that we are now staged. The dragons will soon evolve into phoenixes.

     These figures are symbolic images that reflect on the basis of civilization and culture of certain periods. The “long” feature of dragons and snakes are symbolic to the present time. When seen from the sky, trains and roads look “long”, a crawling creature like the snakes. An organized long line of people inkling a war. Fossilized dinosaurs (dragons) is said to be the source of oil. This all happened or is happening during the Time of the Dragons when people fight for land (earth) boundary.  We will soon be evolving into the Time of the Phoenix where we will be borderless and free as a bird.

    In the sky, there is the sun. The new era will be a civilization based on solar energy and flying freely. That is the message from the heavenly gods. We will be able to use telepathy. The development of the internet is the beginning of this new era. The high-techs will evolve to greater abilities.

     In the photo, you can see a large white aura emanating from the gakushi players and the two big circle of lights floating in the air. One is a light green. This is the same color aura of the god spirit I often see when I go to the Gegū. The light blue one, I see at the Naigū. It is very rare to witness such big god spirits. It proves that the gakushi players are living a faithful and honest life. Otherwise, they would not have appeared.


   Humans work hard and make efforts because they really don’t understand about life and god. And that is a good thing. Being ordinary, trying hard, making efforts and moving forward step by step.

    We just keep moving on. It is the same in space. There is an eternal current and breathing. Going into meditation or so called “spiritual path”, will stop you from growing. You think it’s a faster way to enlightenment but in fact, it’s delaying your life. It’s good to have problems and struggle through life and being ordinary. When you work hard, for sure, one day you will see a change for the better.



Ikashite-itadaite arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

I would like to spread the Gratitude Awareness towards ancestral spirits and everything around us so 5% of the world population will start acting on it on a daily basis.

The Magnetic Energy of the Hōden

Hōden < 宝殿 > can be literally translated as the "treasure shrine". It is the storage shrine where the sacred treasures or the offerings are stored. Usually the storage shrines are apart from the main shrine, honden < 本殿 >, either behind the main shrine or somewhere in a hidden unnoticeable place.

However, at The Grand Shrine of Ise, it is different. The two hōden are placed on both sides of the honden. At the Gegū, the outer shrine, when the visitors are facing the main shrine, the two treasure shrines are in the front, and you see the main shrine in the back center. It seems as if the two treasure shrines are holding the sacred energy, and the god is worshipped by the visitors through that channel. At the Naigū, the inner shrine, the honden is in the front center and the hōden are placed at the back on both sides.

Some scholars say that these positioning are symmetric images of the celestial map. The main shrine is the North Star. The two treasure shrines represent the pair, the Big Dipper (the seven stars in the northern sky) and the Milk Dipper (the six stars in the southern sky). The fact that the two treasure shrines are placed in the front at Naikū and in the back at Gegū, signifies the summer and the winter solstice. I totally agree with the scholars on this.

But I would like to add a little more about the spiritual energy of the hōden, the two treasure shrines. At the Gegū, where the treasure shrines are placed in the front, I always feel an enormously strong divine power from the front. However, when I visit the Naikū where the two treasure shrines are placed in the back, the divine power is felt more from the back. I always thought strange of this.


So I asked the spirits of this secret. The answers I received was about the magnetic energy, the divine power, that comes from the hōden. The hōden are full of artworks/offerings that were made by the masters who put their soul into the craftsmanship. The art pieces hold the sacred magnetic energy from the craftsman. When the craftsmen are asked to donate their work to The Grand Shrine of Ise, they start from finding the right material. For example, if it was a lacquer dish, he would start from finding the right wood, the right lacquer. We could not imagine how many people become involved in this process. I have heard that some craftsman would surround his workspace with a shimenawa, sacred rope, and only allow limited people to enter his workspace. The offerings that are made with such care and soul would have a very high vibrational magnetic energy.

The hōden, the treasure shrine, that stores many of these offerings is like a high voltage battery. But the batteries do need to be changed after a while. And it seems like every twenty years is the right cycle. Even if the batteries are high in its spiritual voltage, after twenty years it is weakened.


At The Grand Shrine of Ise, they hold a big event every twenty years called “Shikinen-Sengu” <式年遷宮>. They rebuild the whole structure of the shrines and the offerings or the treasures.

As an esoteric art, this every twenty year ritual seems to be a pragmatic one. The people in the ancient times knew that the twenty year cycle was the limit for the objects to hold a high spiritual voltage to protect the divine power for the sacred land.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Festivals are Resuscitation ・Rebirth

The other day, I saw a TV show titled “Ise and the Japanese people.” I was able to see only a part of the show, but it was very interesting. They were talking about why the sengu had to be done every twenty years. In a Japanese tradition, twenty years to learn a technique of some kind seems to be quite common. So the twenty years cycle passing on from one generation to another would be adequate. I was expecting to hear that kind of answer. However, the intellectual who was invited to talk about it said something interesting. My interpretation of his speech is, “the spiritual power of the gods will start to decline after twenty years. So every twenty years, we do the grand festival, the sengu, to resuscitate and give a rebirth to its power. ” As for an academic person, he said something quite right even from a spiritual perspective. I was unexpectedly impressed. When you look at the old documents about the festivals held at The Grand Shrine of Ise, they seriously believed that the power of the gods have a cycle of life and death, just like the rising and the setting of the sun. So they held many festivals and events in different season to maintain the divine power.

Every year, all over Japan, in Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples there are festivals such as hadaka-matsuri (running around the town naked)or kenka-matsuri (fighting fest)to revitalize the energy of the gods. The people who all carry innate god gather and enjoy the wildness. When I see the excited people carrying the mikoshi (portable shrine), everyone’s magnetic energy is strongly emanated creating a huge ball of energy. As the festival goes on, the ball is “kneaded” and becomes bigger and bigger. At the end, when the mikoshi reaches the main shrine, the huge ball of energy subsides inside the shrine. In a regular shrine, a big festival is held once a year. Every time people pay a visit to a shrine and leave their wishes, the energy ball shrinks. And in one year, the festival revitalizes it again. So when people stop holding festivals, it means the gods will disappear from the shrine or the temple. Thus the shrine or the temple will be a deserted place.

The sengu of The Grand Shrine of Ise is a super grand festival. They prepare twenty years for the next festival. The offerings are made with the finest skills and hearts. The magnetic spiritual energy of the craftsmen is “kneaded” into the works. Thus the process itself is already a part of the Shinji – work for the divine. Every morning when we are doing the gratitude sending with incense to our ancestors, or changing the water on our altar, we are also “kneading” the magnetic spiritual energy. The act will resuscitate and revitalize the god spirits and our ancestral spirits.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

The Grand Shrine of Ise, Gegū

I hope you will have a chance to visit The Grand Shrine of Ise or Ise-Jingu, Gegū one day. If you go in the morning, you will be able to see the golden pillar of light rising high into the heavenly sky. The Light Pillar can be seen at the sengū* open ground near the building. The shrine itself seems to be a device that brings in energy from heaven and to emanate all around. I sense the energy that runs through the open ground is directed towards the North Star. Every time I have visited this Shrine of Ise, I have always been able to witness this line of ki. It cannot be seen later in the afternoon. When I am in a very good physical condition, I am able to see the Big Dipper as well.

Gegū* (outer shrine) is truly beyond logic. It is absolutely a miracle that this exists. Why this place out of all the places on earth? Well just visit and enjoy the place.

I don't’ mean to be secretive about it. It is true the Naigū (inner shrine) is a very honorable place where the Imperial family spirits reside, but when I first visited the Gegū, I was stunned. A champagne gold pillar of light was rising from the ground towards heaven. And the light was beaming toward the North Star. I don’t think there is anything like this any where in the world. If a truly gifted religionist came to this place, Christian or Jewish or any other religion, that person should be able to understand what I mean. I know we would feel very close to each other.

I want all religionist in the world to visit Gegū. The Jewish rabbi will definitely feel Jehovah. A devoted Christian will feel Jesus Christ. A devoted Muslim will feel the breath of Allah. This place is on the level of planet earth not on the level of human, thus it is beyond one religion.

I feel this Gegū is Kongen-shin, the Root God. I sense that all the gods were created from this existence that has no name. This place will connect you to the highest conscious that you believe in. If you have the qualification, you will know.

On the tip of the pyramid, there is one root energy source. This energy divides unlimitedly and spreads down. Whichever side you climb from, the top is the same tip. One will reach the same source. In all religions, when you reach attainment, you reach the same place. I sense that this Grand Shrine of Ise Gegū is directly linked to the Root source.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live



*Sengū 遷宮: The transfer of the deity to a newly constructed shrine. The whole shrine structures are renewed every 20 years since 690 AD.

*Gegū 外宮: The outer shrine is written as “Geku” at Ise-Jingu official site and other road marks. Also Naigū (inner shrine) is written as Naiku. However the author insists that it should be pronounced in “g” instead of the “k”.

Twenty years of visiting Ise - Part 5

We took the bus to go to Naigū. It has been years since I have taken a public bus. My wife and I were getting some change ready. It was 200 yen until the last stop all of the sudden, it went up to 410 yen! I would recommend you to get off at Okage-yokocho and walk. It will be cheaper.

We got to Naigū around 1:30 pm. The heat was intense. For older people and people with health problems, I would recommend to visit early in the morning. Spiritually, it is always better before 9:30 am. I have heard that many of the African tribes who worship the sun believe that the sun god only appears at sunrise and sunset. During the day, the sun god is not present.

When I sent my gratitude at the honden, main shrine, of Naigū, I sensed the seventh rank of Amaterasu-Ohomikami. I could see one Light Pillar standing toward heaven on the left side of the ground of sengu. The path behind the main shrine toward Aramatsuri-no-miya, the scenery is quite spectacular. However, this time, a fence was made and was no longer able to see the view. This time I didn’t sense anything at Aramatsuri-no-miya. I bought a Ken-barai-fuda*(charm) at the Naigū shrine office.

After leaving the shrine, we went to Okage-yokocho to have some ice shaves. When I looked at my shoes, it was covered with white dust from the gravel walk. I was going to clean it when we got back to the hotel, but ended up wearing it all the way back home. I felt this could be a souvenir for my house. Instead of taking the bus, we took a taxi back to the parking lot. If you are more than a party of four, it will be cheaper to take a taxi. During the taxi ride, the taxi driver told us an interesting story. He said that due to the exposure to the sunray, skin diseases are occurring within the taxi drivers. They had requested UV protection sheets to be applied on the car windows but was rejected. He said, “Even in Ise, we might need sun glasses like the one they wear at the South Pole,” kind of half joking and laughing.

After saying goodbye to my sister’s family, we went to a Shinto goods store near the entrance of Gegū and bought a hemp bark. I apply this bark to the tip of the core bar on my eight-legged altar. The god spirits reside on tree barks.

The next day, we went all the way to Sakamoto, Shiga Prefecture to a special soba restaurant. This Tsuruki-soba is a purveyor to the Imperial Household. The restaurant built 120 years ago had a nice atmosphere. I sensed that this area is a patrol course for the monkey ogres, who are the kenzoku spirits of Susanoo in the lower rank. Maybe it has to do with being close to the shrine, Hiyoshi-Taisha*. Such as this soba restaurant, when the local spirits are worshipped, they would receive protection and last long. The trip has come to an end. We drove back home looking at Lake Biwa on the way.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live




Ken-barai-fuda 剣祓札：A rare charm sold specially at The Grand Shrine of Ise (or Ise-jingu). It is rare because it has a special kind of tree bark wrapped on the top of the wooden piece inside the charm which is the old traditional way of making a proper charm.


Hiyoshi-Taisha 日吉大社：Located in Sakamoto, Shiga. The shrine was first built in the 8th century but was burnt when Oda Nobunaga destroyed the shrine along with Enrayku-ji temple. Hideyoshi Toyotomi constructed the existing buildings in the last quarter of the16th century. His name during childhood was “Hiyoshi-maru” and his nickname was “Saru” which means monkey.

Twenty years of visiting Ise - Part 4

After visiting the Gegū, looking at Asama-yama (Mt.Asama) on the right, which is one of the passing points of the sun, we drove the winding highway towards Izawa-no-miya. As we come close to the town, Isobe-cho, we started to see some stores lining on the right side of the road. As we drove down the hill, we saw two police cars stopping a car for speeding on the opposite side of the road. I felt sorry for the policemen to be working even on the Obon holidays. I told my family to remind me on the way back for not speeding.

Izawa-no-miya had expanded their parking lot since last year. The shin-den (rice field at a shrine), where the Otaue-shiki* is held, now had a roof in the area for the visitors to watch the ceremony. When I first visited the Izawa-no-miya twenty years ago on my bike lead by my god spirit guides, they didn’t even have a parking lot. I am happy to see the development happening every year and at the same time, reminisce about the modest looking old days. Even the eel restaurant, just before the main gate to the shrine, looks like they have renewed their signboard. Back then, it looked so shabby, it was hard to tell whether they were open or not.

We went through the Torri archway, cleansed our mouth and hands with the provided water and slowly walked toward the shrine. To me, the approach (san-do・参道) toward Izawa-no-miya always feels like a transbirth canal (san-do・産道). It feels like returning back to a mother’s stomach from the lower world. The main shrine would be the womb. When I send my blessing at the shrine, the nichirin (the circle of light) of Amaterasu-Ohomikami appeared in my mind as always. The calm and gently vibrational energy signified that nothing critical is going on.

For the God Spirit who resides at this shrine, this major turning point of time is just another phase, and it seems like serenely observing the eternal flow of time. Mother of earth is for sure a Big Mama with a steady nerve.

After visiting the Izawa-no-miya, we went to a French restaurant outside the main entrance of Gegū. Because it has been one and a half year since our last visit to Ise Shrine and spending time with my family, so I decided to give them a treat. We had a lunch menu that was 3500 yen each. Too bad I (the driver) couldn’t have a drink. [laugh] As we were leaving the restaurant, when I was at the cashier, I found a photograph on the wall. It was a photo of the Dai-Torii grand archway. The lower part of the photo showed a clear rainbow color orb. I thought it was very unusual to see a shot so clearly close to the ground.

Leaving our car at the parking lot of Gegū, we took the bus to go to Naigū (the inner shrine). On the way from Izawa-ni-miya to Gegū, we had seen how crowded Naigū is and we knew we didn't want to drive in there. (continue)



Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live



[Otaue-shiki - 御田植式 : Rice planting ceremony held at rice-planting time in May or June in all parts of Japan to pray for a good rice crop and successful harvest.]

Twenty years of visiting Ise - Part 3

I would like to talk about my impression of this time’s visit to the Gegū. As I pay a visit at the main shrine (honden), I sensed the vibration of a deity from behind the oratory. This vibrational energy was the same sensation I had always felt at this place.

At a shrine where god resides and when the god is present at that time, its spirit body emits an exquisite vibrational energy. When there is some kind of problem or conversely, in a high joyous state, the vibration becomes bigger and rough. Last year, the vibration was very big. When it is in that state, I could hear a sound like a bee flying. The sound cannot quite be explained in words. Kaminari 雷 means thunder. Kami means god. Nari or naru means make a sound. This might be the derivation of the word for thunder.

In the ancient times, people sensed this vibrational energy of the deity. When they sensed the anger, they made efforts to improve and when they sensed the joy, the whole village celebrated the joy together.

This time the vibrational energy was stable. All shrines at the Gegū were stable except for one, the Kaze-no-miya (the wind shrine). Up until last year, it was stable. This year, it has started to make a sound.

Some incidents at the Kaze-no-miya are recorded in the priest diary of Gegū. At a critical time when foreigners tried to invade Japan, the day before the attack, smoke rose from Kaze-no-miya and the billowing smoke flew off to the direction toward the invader. At another time in 1959 when typhoon stroke the Ise Bay, while Ise city had devastating damage, all the main shrine were left undamaged, in spite of the straw-thatched roofs. But only the Kaze-no-miya was totally crashed by a fallen tree, as if it had saved all the lives of the others at the sacrifice of its own.

The name of the deity who resides at Kaze-no-miya is Ibukidonushi-Ōkami. It is one of The Four Deities under Susanoo that teams up to work on missions. I sincerely hope that this first runner deity does not have to sacrifice again. If the majority of the people who are living on this land of Japan become consciously aware of the sense of gratitude to what they already have, the deity of the Wind Shrine will not have to make its move and instead settle down. (continue)

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

Twenty years of visiting Ise - part 1

Around end of June, a thought came to my mind to visit The Grand Shrine of Ise on August 15th. As a “salary man” and a salesman, holidays without getting emergency calls from clients are limited. In addition, taking a trip with all the family members will be costly and we cannot afford to visit so often. My favorite person, Munetada Kurozumi (1780-1850) visited the shrine in Ise six times during his life. This is amazing. In those days, there were no public access or cars. He had to walk for days or weeks. Sickness, accident, robbery… many possible obstacles are on the way. Actual records of his loan application for the trip still exist. In those days, visiting the The Grand Shrine of Ise was once in a lifetime dream for the commoners. In order to pay a visit to the shrine, people made stops on the way in towns to find work until they had enough money to reach the destination. People who could not visit the shrine for some reason, asked the visitors to take their dog instead. I wonder how many of the dogs actually made it back. If there was, I believe that dog is a true Komainu ( a dog like creature that protects the shrine).


On August 15th, we got up at 3 am and drove off looking at Hakusan (Mt. Haku) from a distance. We took the new Meishin Highway for the first time. It was a really nice and clean new highway. I was surprised to notice the area between Shigaraki, Kouka and Kameyama, full of the vibrational energy of Ise-Hakusan line. It seems like this highway was made in the middle of the untouched wild nature. There are no other place receiving such restorative energy from the universe. Kameyama is where the world known liquid crystal screen was invented and produced. I sense that this is not a coincidence. A place with such good vibrational energy will be the best place to come up with great new ideas. A delicate work such as equal allotment of the liquid crystals may be affected by the energy of the area. No wonder the brand name made in Kameyama has a high reputation.

After several restroom breaks, we reached The Grand Shrine of Ise around 8:30 am. After visiting the main shrine of Gegū, we visited all the other shrines both in Gegū(outer shrine) and Naigū(inner shrine). Then we asked for a formal gratitude sending prayer done by the priest called Daidai Kagura, at Gegū Kaguraden.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live