The shinto priest who was a magician

I have a glass of cheap red wine beside me. The shudder of early evening is setting in. And the seven hours of Japanese class is slowly gathering and condenscing on the surface of my skin and down my body to the floor.

On Sunday I attended my first Shinto ceremony. Now as Shinto, along with Buddhism and Confucianism are the official religions of Japan this might seem unusual, neglectful even. But religion does not have the same reverberation in Japan as it does elsewhere. Most Japanese people I know find it slightly bewildering to see how aware of religion everyone else seems to be. This is in part due to the religions that dominate here. It was only in the Meiji Period (the point at which Japan after centuries of isolationism opened itself up to outside influences) that Buddhism and Shinto were separated out. It was also at this point that a new word for nature came into being; one that was more in keeping with the separation of nature as a binary against civilisation and humanity as opposed to intrinsically intertwined and a part of human creation.

Shinto is an impossible religion to describe. It worships many Gods. And holds nature as central to everything. But it is also has links to the militarism and nationalism of pre war Japan. For some people it seems to sit on the same level as superstition or the love of ritual - Japanese people go to the local jinja (shrine) on special days, or just when passing, throw coins into a wooden box, clap their hands, bow and then receive a wish; why they get a wish and what or who the god before them is often seems to have been lost by mainstream Japan. Perhaps rather like the slow dismanteling of Christianity in the UK. Shinto is not taught in schools, and shinto's innate acceptance of difference, recognition of many ways and refusal to pin itself down makes it a difficult religion to teach or indoctrinate someone into. It's hard to see how state shinto ever really worked. Japanese culture and habit however is heavily influenced by Shinto thinking. The obsession with cleanliness, refusal to re-use furniture or clothes, even the high consumerism seems to have its roots in the importance of purity in Shintoism.

I have been keen to understand Shinto ever since I arrived in Japan, but as my Japanese friends great many of my questions with parallel questions "oh -- do you really think that's so? --- oh - yes - why is that do you think?...yeahh... wow I've never really thoughts about that..." I had given up on ever learning anything very solid about it. Atleast for the time being.

That was until a few months ago I met a Sinto priest. And not just any Shinto priest. A woman and a foreigner.

On sunday I attended her service. We clambered up the hill,through a forest path. It was pouring with rain, and the tiny shrine, with the typical blurring of lines between nature and structure had one wall entirely open to the world outside. It was on the top of a little mound, on the edge of Takao (a mountain on the edge of Tokyo). We cut flowers and leaves. We laid out fresh fish, vegetables, mochi (squashed up rice). Gradually clusters of people arrived. And as the ceremony began with a banging of the Taiko drum it felt truly wonderful to be huddled amongst the ten other worshippers, on our tiny slightly wobbly stools, cosy, with the feel of rain outside, the swotting of mosquittos every once in a while and a feeling that all of us were a bit clueless as to exactly what we were supposed to do. The priests would whisper instructions to us, the congregation, out of the corner of their mouths; 'stand up' 'okay you can sit'.

Shinto seems to value a spirit of gratefulness very highly. Gratitude to the world, to nature and to the gods. It also holds a new vision of environmentalism. Instead of the idea that we should rather patronisingly and paternatistically 'protect' the earth, it instead asks that we acknowledge the way in which nature is in fact what protects, nourishes and gives us life - how dare we talk about protecting what we are utterly aand completely reliant on?

As we presented our leaves, tied up with white paper ribbons to the god, and bowed I could see out of the corner of my eye the buddhist statue that also lives in this particular jinja. This is slightly unusual, my friend told me, with the separation of buddhism from shinto buddhists statues had been removed from shrines to be placed in otera or temples. This shrine had escaped and so the unlikely circumstance of the staunchly catholic identifying member of the congregation was as welcome there as me and my spiritual mish mash of thoughts.

The service was short, but the meal afterwards long and raucous. Floor cushions came out, and the teetering stools were flung away so that we could sit comfortably on the tatami and talk, drink sake, eat rice and fish and enjoy the entertaining shinto priest (the second priest of the temple). He was truly a fun person to know. As we spoke he decided to show me his magic tricks, and it soon became clear that this was not a typical shinto priest by any means. Or, as I think might be more true, Shinto's lack of definition makes it's priests exceptional, diverse and life long learners in the absolute best sense of the word. In this particular case, his discovery of Shinto late in life meant he had honed his magical tricks down to a fine art - all the better to entertain his flock with disappearing tissue papers and self breaking chop sticks.

As our stomachs filled out and we all laughed sillily our priest now suggests the next event of the afternoon; a concert - in aid of the saving of Takao from a road that is ebing built right through the middle of it. This opens up a whole can of worms in the activist community in Japan. The Japanese government seems to have a nasty habit of deciding that a road or highway or development project is ' in the public's interest' and vetos any residence complaints, the result being that many of the interesting parts of Tokyo or Japan are in danger of being raised to the ground and replaced with smart, ill thought out projects that it is very difficult to protest. These people have been protesting this highway for 24 years now. That's as long as I've been alive. Despite the court case now being considered the government has gone right ahead with the building. As we sit on the local bus riding towards the concert my friend tells me with a sigh behind her eyes, that she now longer cycles in that area because it's so depressing to see the nasty great ugly motor way constructed right through that lush, beautiful mountain.

In ancient times, mountains were sacred. I can't help but wonder if that wasn't a good policy to live by.

The concert was a forty minute walk in from the local bus stop. I couldn't quite believe that this forest path and the twittering of birds and mist rising could possibly be within the borders of official Tokyo but as we got closer and we set upon a trail of young wellington wearing, still ridiculously perfectly turned out japanese 'hippy chic' I began getting excited. Suddenly, out of this nice country walk we stumbled across a little festival of fair trade food and cheap drink stalls and a wonderful stage. The advantage of being with a shinto priest it seems is that we didn't end up paying for the event - but instead wondered in free and smiling. It felt like some oasis in the middle of skyscrappers and metros. I don't think I stopped smiline all evening. It turned out that our shinto priest was doing a performance, amongst a whole host of very famous alternative bands. His performance consisted of wearing a red mask, big crazy white wig and his shinto gear, saying a prayer about the importance of the protection of Takao san and making wands disappear. Now here was a showman. I couldn't help but feel like it fitted in with the whole abstract affair. White naked men danced, torches flamed towards the front of the stage and we danced as the night set in and the mud climbed steadily up our clothes.

I somehow ended up with all the food from the shinto ceremony - it is now stuffed in my fridge. As I have stil to connect up my cooker to the gas I'mnot quite sure what I'll do with al the vegetables and mochi - but I smile every time I find it in my fridge and I can't say I'll ever look at a Shinto priest the same way again.