| Nachi-no-hi-matsuri |
The fire festival (hi-matsuri) celebrated on 14th July at the Nachi taisha The waterfall of Nachi which is the highest in Japan has been the venue since ancient times for ascetic practices of a mainly Buddhist or character (see entry on Misogi) Numerous Buddhist temples around the shrine were destroyed in the shinbutsu-bunri attacks following the restoration, but the site is traditionally identified with Kannon bosatsu. The shrine now houses twelve each of whom is carried in a to the waterfall during the festival. The deities are welcomed by twelve large fiery torches from the associated hiryu ('flying waterfall') jinja |
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| Nagare-zukuri |
The "flowing roof" style of shrine building (- zukuri) exemplified by the jinja in Kyoto. A large modem example is the 1921 jingu |
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| Nagasaki Kunchi |
Autumn festival (also known as o-kunchi or o-suwa matsuri) of the jinja, Nagasaki which involves also the of other major Nagasaki shrines. It is held from October 7-9th. Kunchi is a local dialect word meaning autumn festival. The rites include a rapid procession of three mikoshi which are carried by teams of about 50 men down a flight of 73 steps from the Suwa jinja to the below then paraded round the town, occasionally being thrown up and caught. There are dances of various kinds including "Oranda Manzai" ('Dutch comics') geisha performances and an unusual ja-odori or Chinese snake dance resembling a in which a dragon-headed snake chasing a is manipulated on poles by six men. Nagasaki was a centre of foreign trade and before the restoration Dutch and Chinese elements played a more prominent role in the festival, which dates from the seventeenth century. See also kunchi |
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| Nagata Jinja |
A shrine in Kobe, said to have been established originally in the second century. Its kami is The ceremony at is unusual in that the purifying torches are waved by "good" |
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| Nakae, Toju |
A Confucian scholar of the early Edo period who studied philosophy but from his early thirties was drawn to Taoism and religious ideas, and eventually to the the philosophy of the Chinese neo-Confucian Wang, Yang-ming (Oyomei) He is regarded as the first exponent of the Oyomei school in Japan and was the teacher of Kumazawa, Banzan. Nakae emphasised the inner spiritual equality of all men and the need for self-examination and inner purity. His influence extended beyond the samurai classes to the peasants and Nakae came to be known as 'The Saint of Omi', the site of his home on the west shore of lake Biwa |
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| Nakayama, Miki |
The founder of Miki was a poor peasant farmer's wife who like Nao, Deguchi of Omoto underwent desperate hardship before the god Tenri-o-no-mikoto revealed himself through her and endowed her with spiritual powers. She is known as "oya-sama" ('my lady mother') within Tenrikyo |
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| Namazu |
The catfish. The earthquake kami, Nai-no-kami was "sealed down" by the great warrior kami and is kept under a stone in what is now a small enclosure called kaname-ishi at the jingu, Chiba. However, everybody knows that earthquakes are really caused by the underground writhings of a huge namazu or catfish, smaller cousins of whom can be discovered under stones in muddy pools |
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| Name Above All Names |
NAAN |
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| Nanakusa |
"Seven herbs" day, 7th January. It is the first of the five or seasonal days. On this one families eat rice soup made with seven seasonal herbs (nanakusa) to welcome the spring. It may also be offered to kami. There is an autumn version of the soup called aki-nanakusa |
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| Naorai |
During (normally towards the end of) a Shinto matsuri, the feast of rice wine and food which has been offered to the kami (shinsen) and is now distributed to the spiritual benefit of worshippers and priests (see Mi-itsu) The naorai may also consist of ordinary food bought for the occasion |
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| Nara period |
A period during which the imperial capital was at Nara. This period, dominated by Buddhist and Chinese thought, saw the compilation of the and which fixed the mythological ancestry of the leading clans of Japan, and the establishment of important shrine-temple complexes such as ancestral and tutelary shrine of the family |
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| Nation Of Saints |
NOS |
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| National Association of Evangelicals |
NAE |
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| National Black Evangelical Association |
NBEA |
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| National Catholic Committee on Scouting |
NCCS |
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| National Catholic Youth Conference |
NCYC |
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| National Center for Biblical Parenting |
NCBP |
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| National Church Residences |
NCR |
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| National Conference for Catechetical Leadership |
NCCL |
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| National Evangelical Anglican Congress |
NEAC |
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