| Ta-asobi |
Rice-field play. A ceremony connected with the planting and/or transplanting of rice. It was traditionally performed around the time of the first full moon of the lunar new year, as a kind of pantomime of the whole cycle of rice cultivation to pray for a good harvest, and emphasises the close association between Shinto and agriculture. Venues today include the Akasuka Jinja in Tokyo on February 10th and the Mishima Shizuoka on January 7. A rite with a similar purpose, the Utsu-ue matsuri of the Yatsufusa jinja, Kagoshima is performed on March 6th by men wearing large ox-head masks. The Fujimori-no-ta-asobi at the Oihachimangu in Shizuoka which takes place on March 17 features twenty-seven different dances. In May-June at rice transplanting time a number of ta-asobi called ta-ue-sai (rice-transplanting festivals) are celebrated in various ways. On the first weekend in April at the Jingu, Chiba, women known as ta-ue onna "rice-planting women" perform a transplanting ceremony accompanied by music. The Jingu o-ta-ue shinji (rice-planting rite) takes place on 15th June. In the Izonomiya o-ta-ue matsuri in Mie-ken held on June 24, boys aged 5—6 dressed as women play the taiko (large drum) There are also festivals to celebrate the end of transplanting such as the Onda matsuri at Aso-jinja, Kumamoto which is held on July 28 and features a parade of white-robed unari |
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| Ta-no-kami |
The kami of the rice fields, i.e. kami of agriculture, known throughout Japan under different regional names; in Tohoku nogami, in Nakano and Yamanashi sakugami, in the Kyoto-Osaka area tsukuri-kami, in the Inland Sea area in Kyushu ushigami. Ta-no-kami is generally thought to descend from heaven or the mountains in the spring and to return in the autumn, and is often identified with In Eastern Japan ta-no-kami may be identified with and in the west with |
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| Ta-ue-sai |
Rice transplanting festival. See |
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| Tabernacle Of Worship |
TOW |
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| Tabernacle Of Zion |
TOZ |
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| Tacoma Pierce County Chaplaincy |
TPCC |
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| Taikyo |
The 'Great teaching', one of the names for the new national religion promulgated by the early government, elements of which developed into modern Shinto. See senpu undo |
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| Taikyo senpu undo |
"The Great Promulgation Campaign" or 'Great Teaching Movement'. The first attempt by the government from 1870—1884 to formulate a nation-uniting religion. The campaign comprised three elements: (1) The three great teachings (taikyo, sanjo no kyosoku) the or Great Teaching Institute in Tokyo where the movement was based and (3) an army of national evangelists (kyodo-shoku) drawn from many different walks of life (actors, preachers, storytellers, clergy of the new religions etc.) trained in the national creed |
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| Taima |
The formal name given to the millions of or amulets of Amaterasu distributed by the Ise shrine. It constitutes a "seat" of the kami through which she may be worshipped. Smaller or o-harai of Amaterasu are distributed for personal use |
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| Taimatsu |
A pine-branch torch or flambeau. Used especially in night-time and autumn fire festivals (hi-matsuri) these serve to illuminate and purify with fire the route of a procession (shinko-shiki) At the same time their use makes the rite in part a fire-festival, and in many cases very large and unwieldy taimatsu up to one and a half metres across may be carried by young men during festivals as a rite of manhood. In contemporary Japan anti-pollution laws mean that taimatsu cannot always be lit, in which case they are symbolised by straw wrapped round poles, and the festival may take place in daylight |
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| Tainted Souls |
TS |
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| Taisai |
'Grand Festival'. The top class of festivals as contrasted with chusai (middling festivals) and shosai (minor festivals) It refers to major festivals such as those that attract a After the restoration these festivals were fixed by law, but in the postwar period they are determined by the Honcho in the "jinja saishi kitei" (regulations on shrine festivals) According to these regulations the taisai may for example be a rei-sai or reitaisai ([great] regular festival) niiname-sai (harvest festival) -sai or a festival which has a special historical connection with the shrine |
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| Taisei-kyo |
'Accomplishment of the Way of the Kami'. A religious group founded by Hirayama, Seisai or Shosai (1815—1890) a high-ranking member of the last Tokugawa government. He arrived in Edo at the age of twenty and studied Chinese and After the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868 he turned to ascetic religious practices including standing under a cold waterfall. Shinto taisei-kyo advocated service to the nation and conduct pleasing to the kami, and was recognised as a Shinto sect in 1882. See Shinto |
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| Taisha |
"Grand Shrine'. One of the shrine-titles (shago) In "Japanese" reading O-yashiro. From 1871-2 taisha referred to a sub-category of the 209 shrines. By 1945 there were 65 shrines thus classified as "taisha" type, though the only shrine which actually had Taisha as part of its name was the Izumo Taisha or Izumo O-yashiro. Since the war the Honcho has allowed a dozen other major shrines within its jurisdiction to take the name -Taisha, including the Osaka- Sumiyoshi-Taisha, Kasuga-Taisha, Hie-Taisha (on Mt.Hiei) and Kumano-Taisha. In addition there is the Fushimi-Inari-Taisha, which is not affiliated to Jinja Honcho |
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| Taisha-zukuri |
The ancient style of plain wood shrine architecture epitomised by the of the Taisha, Shimane prefecture. It has thatched slightly concave roof sides, a large central pillar (kokoro-no-hashira, the 'heart pillar') and comprises four sections enclosed by a verandah with a low balustrade. The entrance, at the side of the building, is approached by steep wooden steps protected by a separate sloping porch-type roof |
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| Taisho tenno |
The Taisho emperor (his personal name was Yoshihito) who reigned from 1912-1926. He was the third son of the emperor and was designated crown prince in 1887. He was the first emperor to receive a full Japanese and Western-style education and his reign-period is often referred to as the 'Taisho democracy', in reference to the more liberal political and social atmosphere that prevailed between the end of the Russo-Japanese war in 1906 and the early 1930's when party government gave way to a military dictatorship. In contrast to his father, he was prevented by constant ill health from exercising influence in government and by 1920 his duties were effectively taken over by Hirohito as regent |
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| Takama-ga-hara |
The Plain of High Heaven. The other world from which the heavenly kami, amatsu-kami descend. It is the upper realm in a "vertical" cosmology comprising high heaven, this human world and the lower realm of the dead. Takama-ga-hara is sacred but otherwise not much different from the physical world. It contains rice fields, houses, earth floors, animals and the cave in which Amaterasu hides herself. The notion widespread since the era that the emperor was descended from the kami of takama-ga-hara derived from the rediscovered "classic" mythologies of the and the whereas the traditional cosmology of shrine worship overwhelmingly refers to kami who live in this world or come from mountains (yama-no-kami) over the horizon or under the sea |
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| Takama-no-hara |
The Plain of High Heaven. The other world from which the heavenly kami, amatsu-kami descend. It is the upper realm in a "vertical" cosmology comprising high heaven, this human world and the lower realm of the dead. Takama-ga-hara is sacred but otherwise not much different from the physical world. It contains rice fields, houses, earth floors, animals and the cave in which Amaterasu hides herself. The notion widespread since the era that the emperor was descended from the kami of takama-ga-hara derived from the rediscovered "classic" mythologies of the and the whereas the traditional cosmology of shrine worship overwhelmingly refers to kami who live in this world or come from mountains (yama-no-kami) over the horizon or under the sea |
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| Takatsuki |
A lacquered wooden pedestal table or stand either rounded (maru-takatsuki) or rectangular (kaku-takatsuki) used for food offerings. See |
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| Takayama matsuri |
A festival performed at two venues in Takayama-shi, Gifu. The spring festival (a sanno matsuri) takes place at the the jinja, April 14-15th, and the autumn festival on October 9-10th at the Sakuragaoka Hachiman -gu. Gorgeous three-tiered floats (yatai) topped with a kind of miniature shrine building, some made in the genroku style of the early eighteenth century and some carrying clockwork marionettes, form a procession. In the spring festival there are twelve floats and in the autumn eleven, all richly decorated with lacquer work, metal and patterned cloth and built in such a way that they shake and sway as they are pulled along. The float called hoteidai features a model of with two children who swing down on a trapeze and land on his shoulder. Other floats sport Chinese silk prints or carved Chinese lions. A and a special form of folk music with gongs, known as tokeigaku, are performed |
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