immortal wishes:
labor and transcendence
on a Japanese sacred mountain

Ellen Schattschneider

Duke University Press (2003)

 

Teaching Resources

Akakura Mountain Shrine Architecture

The Shinden

The Shinden (innner sanctuary) is the principal ritual performance space of the shrine complex. It is centered on an elaborate altar, upon which two beautiful offering trays of rice and water are placed each morning. Morning and evening prayer services are conducted each day in the Shinden. The Shinden is also the site of the evening and morning rites during the Great Summer Festival in July. Numerous votive paintings are displayed on its walls.

Exterior front view of the Shinden (Inner Sanctuary) of Akakura Mountain Shrine. A statue of a dragon curled around the pillar is located to the right of the steps. To the far right is visible the roof of the Reido ,the ancestral hall

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Website developed by Ellen Schattschneider (Brandeis University)