Field Trip (Yoshida Fall 2022 Class)

日本語科ブログ

For today’s class, we visited shrines near Doshisha campus.

In our textbook, we learned about martial arts and sports, so we first stopped at Shiramine Shrine, which has a connection to sports. It is said that the shrine grants benefits for not just sports, but exam study as well. This is because the traditional Japanese sport of kemari is a sport where you can’t “drop the ball.” What did everyone pray for, I wonder?

You can spin the ball that’s part of the stone monument.
The way you pray at this shrine is slightly different than at other shrines. Apparently you do so while picking up a bell shaped like a tawara (straw bag) and ringing it.

Next we went to Seimei Shrine, which is a shrine that celebrates the onmyoji (diviner) Abe no Seimei. He is the god of warding off bad luck, so the students prayed at the shrine, pulled fortunes, and bought omamori (charms) during the visit.

They even got goshuin (stamps received at shrines and temples)!

Field Trip (Yoshida Fall 2022 Class) Read More »