Written as a field report for my Shinto class. The requirement of the report is that it be at least two pages and be about an experience I had with Shinto. Shrine visits are recommended. I chose Nogi Shrine because it seemed to me to be an oddity. This paper is written with the fact in mind that the intended audience (Kenny-sensei) has visited the shrine before.
Date: November 17, 2007
Location: Nogi Shrine; near Fushimi-momoyama station on Keihan Line
History: In 1912, General Nogi Maresuke, a hero of the Russo-Japanese War, positioned himself and his wife in front of a portrait of Emperor Meiji. As cannons announced the passing of the Emperor’s funeral procession, the couple committed ritual suicide in order to follow Emperor Meiji into death. The act was highly reminiscent of feudal Japan and shocked a public who at that time thought it had long since cast off such cultural values and stepped into a modernized and Westernized world. (McCain) I have yet to find an exact date for the shrine’s construction or who proposed the shrine’s creation and why.
Description: Nogi Shrine is small and made up of a few buildings and monuments that encircle a little garden. Starting with the gate, the nature of the structures flows in a clockwise motion from structures that have very little to do with Shinto to structures that are distinctly Shinto.
Memorials to Nogi
To the left of the gate are many memorials to Nogi Maresuke as a person. There is a bust of the man cast in bronze, a monument with a large anchor attached, and a museum dedicated to the artifacts of the once-living man. The only hints the shrine gives at first to the fact that it is indeed Shinto is the purification water stationed near the museum for visitors to wash their hands in and a distinctly Shinto altar on the second floor of the museum that houses a statue of Nogi and his wife. Everything else inside the museum is more reminiscent in nature to artifacts found at Graceland—even General Nogi’s dentures are proudly displayed on the second floor.
The Unknown Building
Next to the museum is a small and narrow building that seems to be either the priest’s quarters, a storage facility, or quite possibly both. The building is protected by Shinto ropes indicating the kami’s presence. Inside the door at the center of the building is a smaller Shinto altar that looks more like a family altar than anything else. An empty room with tatami floor can be seen through the window to the right of the door. In the room to the left of the door, however, is something quite interesting. The room is filled with wooden dolls, ranging from approximately two to three feet in height and all except one wearing a red cap and a slightly scary smiling expression that looks strikingly like Daikoku-ten (the one different doll had a white cap instead of a red one). Though the dolls may actually be someone other than Daikoku-ten, there are a few other strategically placed items on the premises that make me suspect that the dolls are indeed of him.
Additionally, in front of the Unknown Building is a small alter to a red-bibbed stone person, complete with a brass statue of Buddha sitting next to it. This raises some interesting questions: What is a guy like Daikoku-ten, who is clearly of Buddhist origin and one of the seven lucky gods, a guardian of children, and a miniature of Buddha doing in a Shinto Shrine to General Nogi Maresuka, of all people?
Clearly Shinto Aspects
Moving clockwise, the rest of the shrine is distinctly Shinto with only a few small nods to General Nogi himself. Directly next to the unknown building is a model of Nogi and his wife preparing for suicide. Next to that is a statue of Nogi in full priest’s costume, indicating that not only is he a kami, but the head priest of his own shrine. Next to that is a two-building complex that I would like to call the Outer and Inner Sanctuary. The Outer Sanctuary is the much larger building of the two and is accessible to the public. Located behind the Outer Sanctuary is a separate building that is off-limits to the general public and is most likely the Inner Sanctuary. Guarding the Outer Sanctuary are two statues, one of a mare and one of a stallion. This is the only shrine I have been to that does not have a statue of a horse inside a building, but instead has the horses on full display. The fact that there is one male and one female possibly indicates Nogi and his wife. Another interesting feature to the Outer Sanctuary is that it has an entire row of rice bags lining the building on the outside just below the rafters. Firstly, these rice bags reminded me of Daikoku-ten, who is often seen seated on top of them, and secondly, rice represents wealth. So a man who killed himself to follow Emperor Meiji into death suddenly becomes a kami of wealth?
Next to the two-building complex is a much smaller and much newer (judging by the color of the paint on the wood and the fact the paint hasn’t begun to peal) building that has a prayer bell and offerings to the kami inside. Interestingly enough, more of those huge rice bags are positioned on the structure. The food offered to the kami are red apples, a traditionally wrapped offering (similar to what I saw at the Kurama Fire Festival), two bottles of sake (one for each kami, I guess), and… a plastic wrapped bag of the local favorite doughnut-like candy? Maybe the reason that Nogi had dentures is because his teeth fell out due to eating too much sweets. In that case, it must be awfully hard for him to eat the apples offered to him without his dentures!
Visitors
Visiting Nogi Shrine on November 11, 2007 were two blond-haired foreign girls (myself and my history-buff friend Ruth who I had brought along for the company), two older women (who stayed approximately as long as we did), an older man (I never saw him actually leave but he was gone within fifteen minutes of my seeing him), a young woman (who visited the children’s diety for a very brief second and then quickly left), and a young man (who darted in with camera in hand, disappeared into the museum, and then darted back out in a matter of minutes). The place was surprisingly quiet and no one rang the prayer bell while I was there. At least a second visit is needed to be able to say for sure if the low traffic at the shrine is normal or if people did not visit Nogi that day due to shichi-go-san festivities going on at a much larger local shrine that is conveniently close to all three train stations (Keihan, Kintetsu, and JR).
Priests
There were no visible priests at the shrine during our visit but I am almost positive that there are indeed priests at this shrine. First, if you go clockwise from the prayer bell structure, there is a long and narrow building devoted to the sale of o-mamori and ema, items that are normally sold by priests. Second, the empty second half to the unknown building could possibly be a priest’s quarters. Third, there is an Inner Sanctuary that is off limits to the public. Come to think of it, I could smell faint incense coming from the Inner Sanctuary when I was standing nearest to it.
Thoughts
To be perfectly honest, Nogi Shrine is downright weird. It has the feeling of a Shinto Shrine crossed with Graceland and with a dash of Buddhism thrown in for flair. But because it is weird, it is really fascinating. I will definitely go again to see if I can find an answer to any of my questions.
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