immortal
wishes:
labor and transcendence
on
a Japanese sacred mountain
Ellen Schattschneider
Duke University Press (2003)
Teaching Resources
Akakura Mountain Shrine Architecture
The Kitchen
(see Immortal Wishes, pp. 69-73)
For women worshippers, the large shrine kitchen is one of the most important site of sacral labor during shugyo (ascetic discipline). Here, women prepare meals for the worshippers, as well as offerings for the divinities in the Shinden and other subshrines of the complex. Worshippers are careful to observe distinctions between faucets deliveing ordinary water and those delivering "kami no mizu" (water of the gods).
The large sink in the center of the kitchen.
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(Mieido subshine) |
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(Courtyard) |
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