Vocabulary

straw mat

food and (alcoholic) drink

mendicant Zen priest of the Fuke sect

beggar

woven straw mat (orig. made of wild rice leaves)

mat of woven wild rice leaves

loosely woven mat of wild rice leaves

loosely woven mat

god of fire (in Japanese mythology, usu. Kagutsuchi no Kami)

most important provincial shrine

first-born imperial prince

year in which an imperial memorial ceremony is held (the 3rd, 5th, 10th 20th, 50th and 100th years after death and every 100 years thereafter)

imperial memorial ceremony (held on the anniversary of the emperor's or empress's death, on fixed years)

shrine

kagura hall (at a shrine); sacred dance stage

kagura (esp. when performed at the imperial palace)

ridgepole-raising ceremony

transfer ceremony (wherein a shrine's sacred object is moved from one building to another)

fixed-interval transfer ceremony (wherein a shrine's sacred object is transferred to a newly constructed main hall)

posthumous name

formal folding fan made of hinoki cypress (formerly used by court ladies)

layer of clothing worn by nobles (worn beneath the robe but over the undergarments)

second most important provincial shrine

real name (of a deceased person or a noble)

Ministry of Religious Education (1872-1877)

Indian silk-cotton tree (Bombax ceiba)

Indian silk-cotton tree (Bombax ceiba)

silk cotton (esp. from the Indian silk cotton tree)

red silk-cotton tree (Bombax ceiba); Indian silk-cotton tree

kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra)

Eurya japonica (species of evergreen related to sakaki)

chamber (of a gun)

Festival of the Ages (held at Heian Jingu Shrine in Kyoto on October 22); Jidai Festival

Iwashimizu Festival (Sept. 15 festival held at Iwashimizu Hachimangu in Kyoto)

regularly held festival

guardian deity of the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha)

Bureau of Shrine Affairs (1900-1940)

Institute of Divinities (1940-1946)

Ministry of Divinities (1871-1872)

seven generations of celestial deities