| Sanja matsuri |
"Festival of the three shrines' (in Tokyo: sanja here is to be distinguished from the Ise/Kasuga/Hachiman sanja mentioned above) It is held on the three days surrounding the third Sunday in May at the Asakusa-jinja. The Asakusa area of Tokyo includes the former Yoshiwara pleasure district of Edo times. On the Saturday up to a hundred machi-mikoshi (town mikoshi) of various sizes parade through the streets and the following day the three honja mikoshi (main shrine mikoshi) called ichi-, ni- and san-no-miya make a ceremonial departure from the Asakusa jinja. The Buddhist-kami deity of Asakusa was formerly called the sanja-dai-gongen-sha 'great of the three shrines' or sanja-myojin-sha 'bright kami of the three shrines' and was the tutelary deity of the area. The festival features an old style of "binzasara" in which the dancers beat time with binzasara, wooden slats tied with cord |
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| Sanja takusen |
"Oracles of the three shrines" (of Amaterasu, Kasuga and Hachiman) which have exerted influence from the medieval period to modern times. According to legend the oracles appeared on the surface of a pond at the Todaiji Buddhist temple in Nara in the late 13th century. In scrolls and reproductions of the oracles Amaterasu o-mikami appears in the centre with Hachiman Daibosatsu to the right and Daimyojin to the left. The oracles included Buddhist and Confucian ideas on purity of mind, honesty and benevolence. They acquired some authority as a basis for moral teachings and contributed to the development of Shinto doctrines |
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| Sanjo no kyosoku |
The three great teachings (=taikyo) which formed the basic creed of the Great Promulgation Campaign (taikyo senpu undo) of 1870-1884. They were (1) respect for the kami and love of country; (2) making clear the principles of heaven and the way of man; (3) reverence for the emperor and obedience to the will of the court. The teachings were new and rather vague and had to be expanded in commentaries provided to the "national evangelists (kyodo-shoku) charged with their dissemination to the people. The commentaries encouraged payment of taxes, building up the country according to the slogan 'rich country, strong army' (fukoku kyohei) importation of Western science and culture and compulsory education. The teachings were taught in conjunction with veneration of Amaterasu and the three 'kami of creation" (see Zoka no kami) identified from the by scholars |
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| Sanjuban-shin |
Thirty named kami, one for each day in the month, identified by the Tendai sect of Buddhism in the period. The idea seems to have begun with the famous Tendai monk Ennin (792-862) The deities are believed to protect the nation, and those who keep the Buddhist Lotus Sutra (Hokekyo) They are particularly emphasised by Nichiren Buddhists |
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| Sankei |
A general term for shrine visit. It may refer to regular or occasional visits to a local or regional shrine to worship, or as part of pilgrimage |
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| Sanku |
"Scattered offering" Also known generically by one of its forms, sanmai 'scattered rice', and as uchimaki. A form of combined purification and offering for local or family kami carried out, for example, in advance of construction of a building (see Jichinsai, Muneage) It consists in scattering small items such as rice, bits of cotton cloth, coins or on the ground, usually in the centre and the four corners of the ritual site |
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| Sanmai |
"Scattered offering" Also known generically by one of its forms, sanmai 'scattered rice', and as uchimaki. A form of combined purification and offering for local or family kami carried out, for example, in advance of construction of a building (see Jichinsai, Muneage) It consists in scattering small items such as rice, bits of cotton cloth, coins or on the ground, usually in the centre and the four corners of the ritual site |
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| Sanno |
'Mountain-king'. It refers to sanno the pre-Meiji name of the guardian deity of Mt. Hiei north-east of Kyoto, site of the great temple-shrine complex formed around the Tendai Buddhist Enryaku-ji originally founded by Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) The mountain deity is Onamuchi (another name for Okuni-nushi) of the Eastern shrine or Oyamakui or Yama-sue-no-o-nushi of the Western shrine of the Hiyoshi or taisha on Mt. Hiei, and is also identified with Amaterasu. Hie taisha is the head shrine of nearly forty thousand Hie branch shrines throughout Japan. See ichijitsu shinto |
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| Sanno ichijitsu shinto |
A tradition of ritual, cosmology and art which developed within the esoteric Tendai tradition based at Mt. Hiei, whose guardian deity "mountain-king" was regarded as a manifestation or avatar (gongen) of Shakyamuni Buddha and identical with Amaterasu. Ichi-jitsu is a Buddhist expression meaning 'one reality" or 'one truth'. According to legend Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) was helped in his realisation of the true meaning of the Lotus Sutra (Hokkekyo) by the deity Sanno, protector of the Enryakuji temple-shrine complex. Twenty-one shrines on Mt Hiei are considered to be gongen of various and buddhas. The main proponent of Sanno-ichijitsu-shinto was the Edo period monk Tenkai (Jigen Daishi, 1536-1643) who built the Toshogu to enshrine Tokugawa, Ieyasu according to Sanno ichijitsu rites |
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| Sanno Shinto |
A tradition of ritual, cosmology and art which developed within the esoteric Tendai tradition based at Mt. Hiei, whose guardian deity "mountain-king" was regarded as a manifestation or avatar (gongen) of Shakyamuni Buddha and identical with Amaterasu. Ichi-jitsu is a Buddhist expression meaning 'one reality" or 'one truth'. According to legend Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) was helped in his realisation of the true meaning of the Lotus Sutra (Hokkekyo) by the deity Sanno, protector of the Enryakuji temple-shrine complex. Twenty-one shrines on Mt Hiei are considered to be gongen of various and buddhas. The main proponent of Sanno-ichijitsu-shinto was the Edo period monk Tenkai (Jigen Daishi, 1536-1643) who built the Toshogu to enshrine Tokugawa, Ieyasu according to Sanno ichijitsu rites |
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| Sanno-matsuri |
The festival for celebrated at the Hiyoshi or taisha on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto, and thousands of Hie jinja throughout Japan. At the taisha two ara-mitama of Oyama-kui-no-kami are brought to a shrine on April 12 to be "married'. The following day they are entertained and at night shaken violently by about a hundred men and 'give birth' to a child-kami. The Sanno matsuri (formerly sanno-gongen) of the Hie jinja in Tokyo held on June 14-15 was celebrated before the restoration as the 'official festival' (goyo-sai) for the entertainment of the It was known as the Tenka ('all under heaven'—the whole country) matsuri and alternated with the matsuri It was famed for its procession of more than forty beautiful floats, no longer allowed in Tokyo. The present shinko gyoretsu (kami-parade) passes through Akasaka, Yotsuya, Ginza and Shimbashi and features three and two 'imperial carriages" (horen) with about 400 followers in period costume. perform and a is set up through which participants pass for good luck, twice to the left and once to the right |
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| Sanshu no shinki |
The three imperial regalia. Literally, the three divine receptacles. In the they are referred to as the three treasures (mikusa-no-takara-mono) They are the mirror (yata no kagami) preserved at jingu, the sword (ame-no-muraku-mono-tsurugi, kusanagi no tsurugi) at jingu, and the string of jewels (yasakani no magatama) kept at the imperial palace. Replicas of the first two are kept with the third in the Kashiko dokoro shrine of the imperial palace in Tokyo, since possession of the "three sacred treasures" is held to be evidence of the legitimacy of the emperor. The regalia are kept hidden. The mirror is enclosed in numerous boxes and wrappings, the sword is said to be about 33 inches long and enclosed in wood in a stone box. Nothing is publicly known about the shape or colour of the jewels which are also kept concealed. The regalia are piously believed to have been handed down from Amaterasu to Ninigi then down through the generations of emperors. The divine transmission is not mentioned in the or though the legendary emperors Chuai (192-200) and Keitai (507-31) are according to the Nihongi ceremonially presented with a mirror, sword and jewels, or in the case of Keitai an 'imperial signet'. The sword was lost by Emperor Antoku in the defeat of the Taira clan in 1185, two years after the rival emperor Go-Toba had acceded to the throne without the regalia. Following these inauspicious events the successful Minamoto regime at placed much greater emphasis on the proper transmission of the imperial regalia as necessary elements in the accession ceremony. There are various interpretations of the meaning of the regalia. At one level they can be seen as charms or protective amulets as well as symbols of legitimacy, but with the rise of Ise or Shinto allegorical meanings with a strong Buddhist-Confucian flavour were attributed to the three treasures, such as that the mirror signifies truthfulness, the sword wisdom or courage and the jewels benevolence |
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| Sanzoro matsuri |
A festival performed on the Saturday nearest November 17 at the Tsushima-jinja, Shitara-cho, Aichi. It includes a performance of featuring the seven gods of good luck |
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| Sapporo Jinja |
A shrine in Sapporo, Hokkaido, founded immediately after the restoration in 1869 for the protection of Hokkaido, whose inhabitants, the were subjugated and the island almost completely "Japanised" by the early twentieth century. It enshrines the kaitaku sanshin, 'three deities of the opening up of the land" mentioned in the namely O-kuni-tama-no-kami (O-kuni-nushi) O-namuji-no-kami and Sukuna-hikona-no-kami. The main festival on June 15th features a procession of participants in ancient Japanese costumes |
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| Saru-no-hi |
Monkey-day. 9th day in the Chinese calendar |
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| Saruda-hiko |
A deity with a "high" divine form, as for example revered by Yamazaki, Ansai in Shinto He is believed to have guided the first emperor Ninigi, grandson of Amaterasu. He is much more popularly represented in festival processions and elsewhere as a deity of roads, particularly cross-roads, and procreation, by a grotesque usually vermilion mask with a huge protruding nose |
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| Saruta-hiko |
A deity with a "high" divine form, as for example revered by Yamazaki, Ansai in Shinto He is believed to have guided the first emperor Ninigi, grandson of Amaterasu. He is much more popularly represented in festival processions and elsewhere as a deity of roads, particularly cross-roads, and procreation, by a grotesque usually vermilion mask with a huge protruding nose |
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| Sashiha |
A screen generally made of silk but occasionally of leaves which is carried round the of a kami to preserve secrecy during the night ritual of |
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| Satan's Abysmal Hell |
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| Satan's Lovers |
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