The Meiji Jingu (Shrine) is worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and her sprawling metropolis.
Despite the fact that this shrine is a stones throw away from one of the craziest metro stops and pedestrian areas known as Harajuku, Meiji Jingu holds onto an otherworldly silence. Entering through the massive Torii gate leads you on a walk through, what I like to call, a magical forest.
It’s green, dark, and a slight mist was all around – giving plenty of notice of the impending deluge we were about to experience (uh-oh, a weather-god story). We later learned that the forest is the product of 100,000 donated trees which were individually planted by hand. By volunteers’ hands, no less. That all this was done so that the beloved Emperor Meiji and his wife’s souls would have a place to dwell is nothing short of magical. I think the word fits.
The actual shrine is at the center of the magical forest, another Torii gate stands in the way but first, to pay proper respect to the spirits who resides here, you must go through a ritual.
At the Temizuya there are several wooden dippers surrounding a water fountain/well. You take a dipper, rinse your left hand, then your right. You then pour some water in your left hand to rinse your mouth and finally let the remaining water in the dipper run down the handle.
You are now free to enter the final Torii gate and, after bowing, see the shrine complex.
It is amazing to me how rituals can overcome any number of barriers – be they religious, cultural, or just plain ignorance. Rituals give off an aura of that ‘certain something’ that is larger. It can felt by those around and clue them in that this is something special, something significant.
Inside the shrine you are also invited to commune with the spirits by approaching the main shrine, bowing twice, clap your hands twice (to get the spirits’ attention) and then make your wish/request/prayer before bowing again. And here, just like most rituals, it helped remove you from the fact that hundreds of others are around you, some being tourists, some there for purpose. It was hypnotic watching individual after individual approach the shrine with the same motions.
The same feeling of awe and calm overcomes me at big sites like this, the ritual of walking around Stonehenge, hearing the choir break into hymns at the Sacre Coeur, observing any number of moments that become powerful for you, simply because they are powerful for others.
In that moment, when our hands were not only cold from the unseasonable low temperatures but also wet from the water cleansing, when we felt just slightly self-conscious walking up to speak with the spirits, in that moment it was bigger than us. Thinking of the fact that our presence was, in some small way, connected directly to this Emperor’s decision to open Japan to the West made the ritual all the more personal – less about “them” and more about “it”. That something.
