Diary on a Trip to Ise – Part 3

I met with Mr.H living in Ise, and we decided to go into the woods as far as the source of Isuzu river （五十鈴川）because visiting common places would be boring. On the way, I found a small local shrine near Naiku （内宮）called Uji shrine（宇治神社）. Its deity is called “god of foot” and I hear some famous marathon runner visits this shrine to pray.

• source 　源
• shrine　神社
• on the way　途中で
• pray　祈願する

When passing the shrine by car, I perceived strong spiritual energy of a fox spirit. Unfortunately, a lot of negative energy of human greed was accumulated there and its original function was hidden. According to Mr.H, the shrine had existed before Niku was founded and it’s the center of the indigenous faith. Some people suspect it used to be the true Ise Grand Shrine. Because of my Kenzokushin’s order, I decided to visit the shrine again on the way back.

• perceive　近くする
• unfortunately　残念なことに
• greed　欲望
• accumulate　蓄積させる
• indigenous　土着の

The forest road along Isuzu river was very narrow and dangerous. It was within the holy precincts of Ise Grand Shrine and general people other than inhabitants were prohibited from entering it. The road was so narrow that two cars couldn’t pass each other. On the left side of the road was the precipice of the river. I drove carefully with a truck for forestry or a local person’s car often coming from the opposite direction.

• narrow　狭い
• precincts　境内
• other than　以外の
• prohibit　禁止する
• precipice　断崖

Historically speaking, the whole basin of Isuzu river belonged to Ise Grand Shrine, but parts of the area were registered by private citizens after the World War Ⅱ under the direction of GHQ, General Headquarters of the Allied Forces.

• historically speaking　歴史的に言えば
• basin　流域
• register　登録する
• direction　指示

Going up the river a little, I found the river suddenly narrowed. I was very surprised to see a lot of megalithic groups near or in the river. There were some gigantic stones as large as a house. Such a scenery is peculiar to Ise, I thought.

• narrow　狭くなる
• suddenly　突然
• megalithic group　巨石群
• peculiar　特有の

Ancient gigantic stones called Iwakura（磐座） are where God descends on. They function as memory devices for spiritual energy of Holy Spirit. The larger a stone, the more spiritual energy it can amass.

• ancient　古代の
• descend　降臨する
• device　装置
• amass　溜め込む

I felt that this geological formation where a lot of gigantic stones lie has something to do with the reason why Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami（天照太御神） chose Ise as the sacred place of God. I suppose that there are a number of gigantic stones as large as a house deep under the ground of Naiku and Geku（外宮）of Ise Grand Shrine.

• geological formation　地層
• have something to do with A　Aと何か関係がある
• sacred　神聖な
• suppose　仮定する

After looking at the megalithic groups along the river, I visited Uji shrine. This shrine is outside the jurisdiction of Ise Grand Shrine. There was a signboard in front of the main building, on which the names of deities and famous historical people were written. This way of spelling their names is wrong, I thought.

• jurisdiction　管轄
• signboard　掲示板
• building　建物

Looking at a small mountain in front of the main building casually, I felt strong holy energy. The mountain itself must’ve been a super gigantic stone. Then I got a vision that ancient people are performing rituals regarding this gigantic stone as Iwakura. I thought the rumor that this shrine might be the origin of Naiku is not altogether unreasonable. After this, I headed for a much more dangerous spot.

To be continued.

• casually　何気なく
• ritual　儀式
• rumor　噂
• not altogether　完全に〜という訳ではない
• head for A　Aに向かう

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

I AM GRATEFUL FOR BEING KEPT ALIVE

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Diary on a Trip to Ise – Part 2

After eating Ise-udon, I started walking to the Ise Station, when I found a shrine next the one in front of the restaurant. The same Inari-shin（稲荷） as that of Geku was enshrined there. I thought “I knew it.” The faith of Inari-shin had spread all over Ise.

• enshrine　祀る
• faith　信仰
• spread  広がる

I got into my car I had parked at a coin-operated parking and headed for Yamato-hime-miya（倭姫宮）. It was near the town and a good, quiet shrine with a long approach surrounded by the deep forest.

• coin-operated parking　コインパーキング
• head for A　Aに向かう
• approach　参道
• surround　囲む

I feel that Yamato-hime, an Imperial princess and the originator of a shinto priest, was a lady whose face was round with the forehead bulging a little bit. Her face shows that she was a strong-willed and hot-tempered woman. Such a  woman is most suitable for divine possession. Though she may not have been happy as a woman, she was loved by Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami（天照太御神）.

• Imperial　皇室の
• originator　始祖
• round　丸い
• forehead　額
• divine　神の

Then I visited Tsukiyomi-no-miya（月讀宮）. I didn’t expect for anything special there, but it was a good shrine, too. There were four buildings side by side in the precinct. Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto（月讀尊） was enshrined in the two buildings each, and Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto were enshrined in the other two buildings.

• expect　期待する
• side by side　並んで
• precinct　境内
• each　それぞれ

As soon as I prayed in front the building of Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, I unexpectedly felt the energy of Susanoo, which is an important hint as to the mystery of the true identity of Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto. If the four buildings represented that Susanoo, who strayed from his parents according to Kojiki, Japan’s oldest historical record, and his parents, the meaning of three deities being enshrined together would be more clear.

• as soon as S+V　SがVするとすぐに
• unexpectedly　意外なことに
• as to A　Aに関する
• true identity　正体
• represent　表す

Tsukiyomi-no-miya is near Naiku（内宮）, so it looks like Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami is watching over by her brother and parents. Though the description about Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto disappears abruptly in Japanese myths, I believe the name Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto is an alternate name of Susanoo in Yomi-no-kuni, the nether world.

• watch over A  Aを見守る
• abruptly　唐突に
• myth　神話
• alternate　別の
• nether world　黄泉の国

Lastly, I drove to Mt. Asama on the highway Ise-Shima Skyline, reaching it just in time for its opening hours. I climbed to the top of the mountain because it was an important point for sun worship. It being evening then, there was something mysterious, or an aura of the nether world, about the temple at the top.

• in time  間に合って
• sun worship　太陽崇拝
• aura　オーラ

Then I left there for the observation platform. There was a footbath there and around it I found some debris of Iwakura, a rock where divine energy falls down. I was immersed in my feelings for a while, thinking about Mt.Hakusan.

• observation platform　展望台
• debri　残骸
• be immerced in A　Aに耽る

I drove down to the town for a business meeting and the first night of my business trip to Ise was over. I was to go out with the local man in quest of Ise the next day. It was something of an adventure.

To be continued.

• stray off　
• quest　探索
• something of a A　ちょっとしたA
• adventure　冒険

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

I AM GRATEFUL FOR BEING KEPT ALIVE

Diary on a Trip to Ise – Part 1

Late in March, I was told by a client company to go on a business trip to Mie prefecture. It was a three-day trip beginning from April 8. The next morning, while I was performing a shinto ritual, my Kenzoku-shin informed me that this business trip would be very important, and ordered that I should bring all the kami-fuda（神札）, a kind of talisman issued by shinto shrines, in my house with me.

• client 　顧客
• prefecture　県
• ritual　儀式
• inform　知らせる
• issue　発行する

Luckily, I happened to have nothing to do on April 9, so a local person, who lived in Ise and was related to the client company, offered to be a guide to show me around great spots in the nature of Ise that only local people knew.

• happen to~ 　たまたま〜する
• show A around B　AにBを案内する

On the first day, April 8, I left my house before dawn and arrived at the company in Mie prefecture around 9:00. I finished almost all the work by noon, so I headed for Geku（外宮） of Ise Grand Shrine（伊勢神宮）.

• dawn　夜明け
• almost　ほとんど
• head for A　Aに向かう

Getting to the main entrance of Geku, I was surprised to see a lot of trucks and heavy machines in the precincts. They were for Shikinen-sengu ceremony（式年遷宮）, where the buildings in Ise Grand Shrine are all rebuilt every twenty years. The water in front of the main building was being drained. I went to the front of the main building to pray, with heavy machines making a lot of noise.  Unusually, I didn’t feel anything special while praying. I just dedicated my gratitude to God for all people, including me, being kept alive.

• heavy machine　重機
• precinct　境内
• rebuild　改築する
• drain　排水する
• pray　祈る
• gratitude　感謝の気持ち

Then I went to another building called Taka-no-miya（多賀宮）in Geku, where I perceived the same symbol of Polaris with strange color that I felt every time I go to the main building. I wondered if the deity moved there because of the construction. The local person I met the next day told me that the name Taka-no-miya is derived from the fact that it was at a higher place than the main building. (“Taka” means “high” in Japanese)

• perceive　知覚する
• Polaris  北極星
• construction　工事
• be derived　由来する

After visiting Geku, I walked to Tsukiyomi-no-miya（月夜見宮）. There was an elementary school on the way. It was break time of the school, so I heard a joyful, energetic voice of the children playing on the schoolyard.

• elementary school　小学校
• on the way　途中で
• schoolyard　校庭

Hardly had I reached Tsukiyomi-no-miya when I perceived figurines in the shape of a fox and an altar, which were in front of a hole of a big tree in the left side of the main building, emitting spiritual magnetism. I had an interest in it. The local person said to me “Neighbors must’ve put those things without permission. Jingu side seems to be overlooking it in deference to the faith they have.” The figurines and altar, I felt, were not put for such a simple reason. The people in the neighborhood have had an  indigenous faith so firmly since a long time ago that Jingu side cannot help but admit it.

• figurine　像
• altar　祭壇
• emit　放出する
• magnetsim　磁気
• permission　許可
• overlook　大目に見る
• indigenous　土着の

Having visited Tsukiyomi-no-miya, I felt like eating Ise-udon, so I went to a famous restaurant near Uji-Yamada station. The Ise-udon served there was much more delicious than that in other restaurants for tourists and it was quite reasonable in price and amount. A lot of local people were coming into the restaurant one after another. The restaurant is a good restaurant loved by the local people, I thought.

To be continued.

• feel like ~ing　〜したい気がする
• one after  another　次から次へと
• to be continued　続く

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

I AM GRATEFUL FOR BEING KEPT ALIVE

Enjoying Brown Rice in Soup

My working hours has changed since the beginning of this year, so I eat lunch at home and work at night, adapting myself to overseas business. There being a lot of brown rice I bought last fall, I heat it in soup stock and eat it every day. It’s really delicious.

• adapt  適応させる
• overseas　海外の
• brown rice　玄米
• soup stock　出汁
• tasty　美味しい

I put a bowl of brown rice, a little sea salt, soup stock made from soy sauce, root tangle and water into a pan and heat it. When it boils, I stop heating. It takes only ten minutes as a whole. If you heat it a little longer, the brown rice becomes softer, but you’ll be hungry soon after eating it. I usually eat dinner my wife cooks early in the evening.

• soy sauce　醤油
• root tangle　根昆布
• boil　沸騰する
• as a whole　全体として

When you pour it from the pan into a large bowl, the bowl is filled with the soup to the edge with the brown rice sinking to its bottom. Cooling it, I eat it slowly. It’s like I eat a hot-pot or noodle soup. Though I eat it every day, I’m not fed up with it because the taste is a little bit different each time due to the amount of salt and soup stock I put into it. If you add seaweed or dried squid to it, the taste changes. It would be interesting to make its taste weaker, too.

• fill  満たす
• edge　端
• sink　沈む
• hot-pot　鍋
• be fed up　うんざりする
• each time　毎回

I’m going to change the kind of salt and soup stock I put into it.  I eat out several times a month, but no other food is better than the brown rice in soup I cook. I can feel power in eating it. Its cost is only 50 yen, including the price of seasoning.

• several　いくつかの
• cost　費用
• including　〜を含めて
• seasoning　調味料

With the economic situations in Japan getting worse for the last six months, I’m grateful to my Kenzoku-shin（眷属神）for the suggestion that I should eat brown rice. Brown rice is a really good economical meal and leads to good evacuation and health. And above all, eating it gives me a strange sense of security. The temperature difference being extreme these days, I hope for a good yield of brown rice in fall.

• economic　経済の
• grateful　感謝して
• suggestion　示唆
• evacuation　便通
• above all　何にも増して
• sense of security　安心感
• temperature　気温

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

I AM GRATEFUL FOR BEING KEPT ALIVE

Abdominal Breathing is a Key to Health

Life habits are very important for improving your health, life span, destiny and spirituality. What’s more important than food is abdominal breathing, breathing out and in from the nose with the belly moving up and down.

• habit 　習慣
• improve　改善する
• destiny　運命
• breathe　呼吸する

You have to do this not consciously but unconsciously and naturally in such a way that your belly moves up and down. It doesn’t take so long to get used to it. Once you’ve acquired this way of breathing, you can do it unconsciously in your daily life. Those who breathe like this are full of energy and healthy, both physically and mentally.

• get used to A　Aに慣れる
• acquire　獲得する
• full　いっぱいで
• mentally　精神的に

Respiration of people who are suffering and worrying is shallow. Their bellies don’t move very much. Because they lack in oxygen, their mouthes open naturally, so that they take in viruses and dust in the air, their immunity go down and they’ll end up becoming sickly.

• respiration　呼吸
• shallow　浅い
• lack　欠く
• immunity　免疫
• sickly　病気がちな

Abdominal breathing fills you with vigor, makes you positive in making a choice in life and helps you achieve your goal. This is how your life changes. Breathing deeply leads you to Inner God, too. Mouth breathing, on the other hand, makes you take in spiritual dirt looking like smoke, which is composed of evil, rough spiritual particles and easily intrudes into your body. Once it gets into your physical body, it’s difficult to get it out.

• vigor　活量
• achieve　達成する
• on the other hand　一方
• compose 　構成する
• particle　粒子
• intrude　侵入する

The hairs of the nostrils prevent spiritually evil things from entering your body. So you had better not cut them too short. The hairs of your head or body have also the same kind of function as that of the nose hair.

• prevent　妨げる
• had better not~　〜しない方が良い
• function　機能

It is said that baldness is related to hormone, heredity or illness, but why does hormone secretion affect baldness? The main cause of baldness, I suppose, is worrying too much. As long as your spiritual line is clogged, you are apt to attach your mind to worldly things, developing the disposition to worry about anything. Worrying disrupts your respiration and affects your hormone.

• baldness　禿げ
• related　関係している
• heredity　遺伝
• affect　影響する
• clogged　詰まった
• be apt to~　〜しがちである
• disposition　性向

Because hair catches spiritual magnetism easily, the physical bodies of people who are always worrying about something seem to drop their hairs as a kind of defense reaction, in order to prevent evil spirits from possessing them. In this sense, you may grow your hair by making efforts not to worry too much and holding memorial services for your ancestral spirits, which cleanse your spiritual line as a result.

• magnetism　磁気
• defense 　防御
• possess  憑依する
• cleanse　綺麗にする
• as a result　結果的に

Buddhist monks shave their heads to prevent wondering spirits from attaching themselves to monks’ hair during meditation. I feel that, a long, long time ago, Buddhist monks with hair often lost their minds during meditation. So they tried shaving their heads. As a result, such insane monks decreased in number.

• meditation 　瞑想
• try ~ing　試しに〜してみる
• insane　気が狂う
• decrease　減る

Ascetic monks in India wash nasal cavities, passing a string from the mouth to the nose, for the secret of meditation is nasal respiration. It’s important to take care of your nasal cavity. When you breathe through the nose, try to imagine that clean air is coming into your body through the nasal cavity and reaches the belly. Abdominal breathing is very　effective in the prevention of influenza, too.

• ascetic monk　修行僧
• string　紐
• effective　効果的な
• prevention　防止

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

I AM GRATEFUL FOR BEING KEPT ALIVE

Tepid Pure Water and Sea Salt

 

About 30 years ago, a famous hospital for curing intractable diseases was introduced in a news magazine. At the hospital, Dr. Ichiro Miki, former professor at the University of Osaka, cured a lot of patients suffering from intractable diseases other hospitals gave up curing. “His method is unusual in the medical society,” the news magazine said.

• intractable  治りにくい
• former　以前の
• suffer　苦しむ
• unusual　普通でない

His method of treatment is drinking five litters of pure distilled water with a little sea salt in it each day. If a patient can’t drink this amount of water, the patient is sent to another hospital. His patients have to drink such a large amount of pure water every day under the instruction of doctors.

• treatment　治療
• distilled　蒸留した
• each day　毎日
• instruction　支持

Though drinking too much water can do harm to the kidney and circulatory organ or lead to water intoxication, Dr. Miki’s method was based on the following beliefs:

＊ Pure water, or distilled water, doesn’t cause water intoxication, while drinking too much tea, coffee or juice causes a disease because of the physical burden in decomposing the ingredients.

＊ When a physical body is put in the same environment as a womb of a mother, any disease can be cured. Amniotic fluid has the same salt concentration as sea water of the ancient times.

• do harm　害になる
• kidney　肝臓
• intoxication　中毒
• burden  負担
• decompose　分解する
• womb　子宮
• amniotic fluid　羊水

He had his patients drink a large amount of distilled water and take sea salt in the appropriate amount together with appropriate medicine and nutrition. Reading this article as a student, I felt the doctor to be very important person and his method impressed me a lot.

• appropriate　適切な
• nutrition　栄養
• impress　感銘を与える

From a spiritual point of view, I perceive hat a person who doesn’t drink much water is likely to have cancer. Such person’s cells seem to congeal because of lack of water and his/her face looks dark red.

• be likely to~　〜しそうだ
• congeal 　凝結する
• lack　欠如

By the way, according to a recent news report, swine influenza is rampant in many countries. When the facade of the administrative building of WHO was shown on television for a moment, I saw the emblem of WHO, a snake twisting around a sword, which I had mixed feelings about.

• recent　最近の
• swine　豚
• rampant　蔓延って
• facade　正面玄関
• emblem　紋章

Anyway, this virus will be more and more powerful as it infects one person after another, adding to its lethality. It is said to have arisen from Mexico, but when it spreads to the world, Mexico and the South America might be the safest places in the world. Even if the present confused situation returns to normal, a novel, evolved influenza will be a big problem.

• infect　感染する
• lethality　致死性
• arise　生じる
• novel　新しい

According to a divine revelation,

＊ Eat a well-balanced diet.

＊ Drink more than one litter of tepid water with a little sea salt in it in a day. Drink 250 ml of it at a time.

• divine　神聖な
• revelation　御告げ
• well-balanced　バランスのとれた
• at a time　一度に

What’s more important,

＊ Hold a memorial service for your ancestral spirits every day with the use of three incense sticks.

＊ Recall gratitude toward Inner God for your daily life.

• incense stick　線香
• recall　想起する
• gratitude　感謝の気持ち

If you put these into practice, you’ll have nothing to worry about. I’m not worried about swine influenza. As the number of people who practice these increases, this kind of problem will gradually come to an end. It’s important to improve immunity physically and mentally.

• put A into practice　Aを実行する
• increase　増える
• come to an end　終息する
• improve　改善する
• immunity　免疫

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I  Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

I AM GRATEFUL FOR BEING KEPT ALIVE

True Intention of Nichiren – PART 3

Showing the Great Hokke Mandala with “Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami” written large in the center, Nichiren said to the two leading disciples that, though he respected Shaka in India, he respected Japan much more, and that he prayed to God at Geku（外宮） of Ise Grand Shrine（伊勢神宮） before founding his sect for with the hope that he wanted to lead all the people to Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami （天照太御神）through the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Then he added that he was going to begin to teach people the faith in Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami, so he wanted them to cooperate with his plan lest his followers should be confused.

• disciple 弟子
• respect　尊敬する
• cooperate　協力する
• lest S+V　SがVするといけないから

They were very much shocked to hear this. They complained by saying how much efforts they made to propagate his teachings through hardships in the face of oppression by the government. It was their only hope that the Lotus Sutra is the best of all the Buddhist scriptures. They got angry, and said “You don’t understand this. Our organization has become big in exchange for many lives of your disciples.”

• complain　不平を言う
• effort　努力
• propagate　広める
• oppression　弾圧
• exchange　交換

The amount of money his followers donated was already huge at that time. The disciples agreed that they couldn’t approve of Nichiren’s plan ever which would ruin his teachings and organization and that they had to prevent his plan by all means. I feel that they kept mixing a small amount of poison into Nichiren’s meal over a long period of time.

• donate　寄付する
• approve　是認する
• prevent　妨げる
• by all means　なんとしても
• meal　食事

Though Nichiren knew what they were doing, he had the meals without saying anything and his body became weak gradually. Why? Because he felt sorry for many disciples who were killed because of the faith in him. Nichiren was the founder of a big religious organization, but he was very kind person as well who never clung to his position or life, always caring about the nation and his disciples.

• gradually  徐々に
• sorry　すまなくて
• cling　執着する
• nation　国家

Nichiren entrusted with them three Great Hokke Mandalas and a document on the faith in Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami. But, they burnt them all after he passed away. The organization was reorganized by them and developed with them being the leaders. But later, they, with the secret in mind, broke with each other and split the organization, founding their own sects each.

• entrust　預ける
• document　文書
• break　仲違いする
• each　それぞれ

Out of fear of having killed Nichiren to cover up his true intention, they became abnormally afraid of visiting Shinto shrines and prohibited their believers from visiting any shrines. A holy spirit of mine have told me their names, but I won’t tell you here. The karma of this incident has existed to this day.

• fear　恐怖
• true intention　本意
• abnormally　異常に
• prohibit　禁じる
• incident　出来事

Nichiren aspired after the Great Sun God, or Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami, beyond the Lotus Sutra. I hope that all religious organizations or groups that believe in Nichiren consider the facts that he visited Geku of Ise Grand Shrine for as many as 100 days before founding his sect and that the name of Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami is written in any Hokke Mandala. And I want them to know Nichiren’s true intention.

• aspire after A　Aを目指す
• consider 　よく考える
• as many as A　Aもの

This is an imaginary story in my brain. I’ll dedicate this story to Nichiren, the true patriot who lived through his turbulent life in this world.

• imaginary　想像上の
• dedicate　献上する
• patriot　愛国者
• turbulent　激動の

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

I AM GRATEFUL FOR BEING KEPT ALIVE