| Gagaku |
"Refined Music'. Ceremonial music (kangen) or music and dancing (bugaku) incorporating Chinese and Indian elements are preserved in the Music department (gakubu) of the Board of Ceremonies of the imperial household and at certain shrines and Buddhist temples. Instruments include the three reeds (fue, sho and hichiriki) the wagon or yamato-koto, a kind of koto, and the 'three drums" (taiko, kakko and shoko) Gagaku dancers wear costumes and masks |
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| Gan-gake |
Prayer for help addressed to a supernatural being. It may be accompanied by a promise in return to abstain from certain types of food etc. See |
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| Ganjitsu |
First day, i.e. New Year's day. See |
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| Garfield United Methodist Church |
GUMC |
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| Gate To Heaven |
GTH |
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| Gathering Of The Faithful |
GOF |
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| Geku shinto |
The form of Shinto developed by Watarai, Ieyuki and his successors which gave prominence to the outer shrine (geku) of Toyo-uke traditionally served by the Watarai clan. Developing ideas from esoteric Buddhism and Watarai Shinto adapted shrine-priest purification rituals (harae) to make them available to ordinary individuals. In doing so they identified the various kami at Ise as the essential source of individual purification or "original enlightenment' (the Buddhist notion of hongaku) Consequently, a pilgrimage to Ise or participation in rituals associated with Ise organised by became a means of self-purification and progress towards enlightenment. In the seventeenth century Watarai shinto was revived in a Confucian (shushi) idiom appropriate to the age by Deguchi (Watarai) Nobuyoshi. The kami were now equated with ri (the cosmic inner and outer principle which supports the ordered society) rather than Buddhist enlightenment, so a pilgrimage to Ise meant a closer union of one's own inner nature with ri. In the mid-eighteenth century the combination of anti-Confucian tendencies, ideas which emphasised the primacy of the inner shrine as a focus for imperial devotion rather than commoners" pilgrimage, and scholarly doubts about the authenticity of the gobusho, all contributed to the decline of Watarai Shinto |
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| Geku Shinto |
The Shinto of the "outer shrine" at jingu See Shinto |
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| General Board of Global Ministries |
GBGM |
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| General Conference Community Church |
GCCC |
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| Generally Regarded As Sacred |
GRAS |
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| Genroku era |
The period from 1688-1703. An era of innovation and creativity in the arts which lends its name to much of the culture of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It saw the development of ukiyo-e, woodblock prints of the "floating world" |
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| Genze-riyaku |
Or just Benefits in this world, as opposed to rewards in the hereafter. Many kami or shrines are credited with the power to grant particular riyaku. Indeed, kami can be seen as specialists in riyaku. See |
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| Gifts Enable Mission |
GEM |
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| Gion |
An alternative name for the Jinja, Kyoto. It derives from Gion-shoja (Sanskrit: Jetavana-vihara) a monastery built in Koshala (Central India) by the rich merchant Sudatta, said to be the first donated to the Buddhist order. Gion is also a collective term for the purifying deities enshrined in the Yasaka Jinja; Susano-o-no-mikoto, Yasaka-no-sume-no-kami (Gion-san) and Inada hime-no-mikoto. See Tenno and Gion matsuri |
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| Gion matsuri |
The Gion or Gion-e was originally a Buddhist held to dispel pestilence. It is said to have been first performed on the orders of emperor Seiwa in 869 but started as an annual festival of the capital a century later during the Enyu era, 969-984. It was discontinued in the fourteenth century but revived in the ninth year of Meio, 1500. After the restoration the festival was conducted as a wholly Shinto affair, though it still incorporated Buddhist themes. It was briefly discontinued during the postwar occupation (1946-51) The main festival performed throughout July at the jinja (Kyoto) is probably the largest in Japan and includes shrine rites on 10 and 15th July and on July 16/17 and 24th mixed processions of "yama" and "hoko" floats, the 'yamaboko -junko'. On the evening of the 17th there is a shinko-sai in which the of the kami are taken from the Yasaka shrine to an "Yama" (mountains) are floats topped with pine or cedar trees and borne on poles by teams of fifty men. They are regarded as and most carry "dolls" (formerly actors) representing scenes from No plays and legendary events including Shinto, Buddhist and Shugendo themes. The gigantic and exotically decorated hoko are ornamental tower floats; wheeled vehicles weighing several tons and up to twenty-four metres high, each topped with a tree and also regarded as himorogi. The hoko carry art treasures or represent yoki-yoku, traditional sung stories, many of which are classic Chinese legends. Many residents participate by opening their houses and displaying precious art objects including screens (byobu) Gion matsuri are also performed in Hakata at the Kushida jinja where floats called yamagasa weighing a ton are carried by teams of 28 in an exciting 5km race starting at 4.59am on July 15. Other notable Gion matsuri with variations are the Kokura gion daiko featuring taiko (drum) performances (July 10-12th) Narita gion-e close to Narita airport in Chiba with ten impressive floats and numerous mikoshi (July 7-9th) Tajima gion matsuri, Fukushima which offers kabuki performances (July 19-21st) Tobata gion yamagasa, Fukuoka whose floats carry flags during the day and turn into mountains of light produced by at night (July 13-15th) and Yamaguchi gion matsuri, Yamaguchi where the performers of a dance called sagi-mai are dressed as sagi, snowy herons |
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| Girls Everywhere Meeting The Savior |
GEMS |
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| Gishikiden |
A building within a shrine used in recent times for weddings and other ceremonies not performed in the or |
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| Give Lu Aide |
GLA |
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| Giving Receiving And Accepting Christian Encouragement |
GRACE |
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