Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Kojin of Rokusho Shrine



Rokusho Shrine, like all the other shrines in this part of Izumo, have altars to the land kami Kojin, represented as a serpent made of rice straw.


Nowhere near the scale or complexity of the ones at nearby Adakaya Shrine, and lacking eyes, nostrils, or a tongue, they are however more complex than the equivalent serpents in my area.


Here there are 5 separate altars, suggesting that they come from 5 different communities in the area.


Curiously, one thing they all lack is bodies. They are just heads. I have never seen that before, usually the serpentine body is wrapped around a tree.



2 comments:

  1. Serpent made of rice straw!
    Very beautiful work

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  2. Magias shamanicas perdurando no Shinto: cultuar representações das serpentes, ou mesmo evocar amizades com elas e assim apaziguar estar na graça dos Kamis ligados a elas...

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