How The Wild Boar Became Divine
Boars are not an animal one would expect to find guarding a Shinto shrine. The story of how wild boars became divine guardians is an obscure and interesting one.| More Than Tokyo
Boars are not an animal one would expect to find guarding a Shinto shrine. The story of how wild boars became divine guardians is an obscure and interesting one.| More Than Tokyo
Anyone who has visited a Shinto shrine in Japan has surely seen a collection of ema, or prayer tablets, containing the various prayers or thanksgivings| More Than Tokyo
Jizo (also written Jizō) is a bodhisattva, that is, one who achieves enlightenment but postpones Buddhahood in order to help others.| More Than Tokyo
The lucrative Kitamaebune trade was a vital conduit for commerce and cultural exchange from Kyoto and Osaka to Hokkaido from the mid-18th to 19th centuries.| More Than Tokyo
Shinto was born from the Japanese people's instinctive awe and respect toward the power, beauty, and ravages of nature and gratitude for its bounty.| More Than Tokyo
Choosing sake can be daunting on many levels. Once you understand the basics of sake and its varieties, making that choice becomes much easier.| More Than Tokyo
The Obon festival of the ghosts traces its origin to Buddha’s disciple, Mokuren, whose mother had fallen into the world of the hungry ghosts, a hellish realm.| More Than Tokyo
Oni are supernatural beings in Japanese folklore that can embody both benevolence and monstrosity. The name "oni," often translated as "demon" or "ogre," is| More Than Tokyo
What may be the strangest foods to an American are not necessarily so in Japan. Sauteed crickets, raw whale, fermented mackerel. But for me, one is a definite standout.| More Than Tokyo
Itoigawa, Niigata, was once the hub of a thriving jade trade. This jade was brought to the surface during tectonic upheavals that shaped the Japanese landscape.| More Than Tokyo
