More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan

This was the first Hanya mask in Iwami Kagura style that I completed. I have posted already about the meaning and history of the han...

Not a true "manhole", but a cover to a valve, but the same design is used on the manhole covers in Akiyoshi Town, in the middle of...

Kuga Shrine lies about 2k south of Kamigamo Shrine , just off Omiya dori. Omiya means "great shrine", and the road name refers to ...

The story of Susano defeating the 8-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi is the most well known kagura dance in Iwami. In a regular performance, ...

In the foothills of NW Kyoto City stands Kyoto Golf Club. Bisecting the convoluted course is a narrow valley reached by a small road that pa...

The Yato River starts at about 900metres up in the mountains of the Mizuho Highlands, right where there is a small ski area. It then travels...

Enduring Identities: The guise of Shinto in contemporary Japan. John K. Nelson University of Hawaii Press ISBN: 0-8248-2259-5 32...

This is one of my original Iwami Kagura masks. I've never seen a blue hanya, and no-one I know has either, but I was wanting the fe...

Taishogun is short for Sei-Taishogun, which translates liberally as "barbarian fighting generalissimo", known more commonly as Sho...

I live on the banks of the Gonokawa River, the longest river in Western Japan, and yet it's less than 200K in length. Geologically speak...