NIKAHO, Akita -- Large cod were carried in procession and dedicated to a local Shinto shrine in this northern Japan city Feb. 4 in a unique festival traditionally held around the first day of ...

Yushima Tenmangu shrine in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward enshrines Sugawara no Michizane, known as the "god of studies." Before the entrance exam ... are written on the ema. Japanese original Easy Japanese ...

There are religions that put their believers' faith to the test with harsh trials. On a mountain in Japan, that test is not ...

The Shinto shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals from World War II along with the nation’s war dead, is often seen by China and other Asian countries as a symbol of Japan’s past ...

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Perched on a wooded hillside in southern Kyoto, Fushimi Inari is a 1,300-year-old temple dedicated to Inari, the Shinto deity of rice and sake (Japanese rice wine). The shrine complex dates back ...

TOKYO (AP) — Dozens of people soaked and splashed themselves in painfully icy cold water on Saturday in a pool at a Tokyo shrine, adhering to Japanese tradition to purify the soul and pray for ...

A scantily clad shrine parishioner throws icy cold water ... 2025, a traditional Japanese way of purifying soul and praying for their health in the new year. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) ...