Spatial Structure of Japanese Religion - Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior - page 90

Once a year in January, Mr T cycled to Kanamura and visited the Shinshoji
Temple in Narita by car, accompanied by his son's family. Mr T visited fi ve
other shrines irregularly: Yasukuni Shrine in Central Tokyo, Gokoku Shrine in
Mito, Kasama Inari Shrine in Kasama, Onogo Tenmangu Shrine, and Hitoko
tonushi Shrine in Mitsukaido.
He visited some shrines and temples more than once a year at hatsumode ,
fi rst visit to a Shinto Shrine or a Buddhist temple in January. Mr T's religious
behavior in January illustrates the differences in each faith. Mr T went directly
to the Akagi Shrine fi rst thing in the morning of New Year's Day, ignoring some
small shrines along the way. His family custom was to visit the four small
shrines in the neighborhood on the way home from the Akagi shrine. He visited
Kanamura during the fi rst 3 days of a new year. He visited the Shinshoji Temple
in Narita during the holidays in January. He always visited the shrines in the same
order, beginning with his tutelary shrine; second, small shrines in the neighbor-
hood; third, Kanamura ; and last, Shinshoji Temple.

3.2.3.3 Aspects of the Kanamura Faith in the Nakahigashi District

Nakahigashi district is located in the northeast of Toyosato district (see Fig. 3.24 ),
upland on the left bank of Higashiyata River. The community lives north of the
Tsuchiura-Sakai Road, which runs east-west across the center of Nakahigashi dis-
trict. The district is about 25 m above sea level, and the most conspicuous form of
land use is dry fi eld cultivation of cabbages or negi. This region had 176 residents
and 43 households in 1995, but was rapidly urbanizing, prompted by the readjust-
ment of town lots. Many housing projects for employees and research institutions
were constructed to the southeast of Nakahigashi district since 1981, and housing
and institutions related to Tsukuba Science City were developed to the east. An
outdoor recreation facility called Yukari no mori was constructed to the northeast.

(1) Religious Landscape
The distribution of religious facilities, household membership of Ko, and
households whose family names are N in Nakahigashi district are shown in
Fig. 3.29 . A tutelary shrine, Shinmei-Sha, is dedicated to the north of the com-
munity. A front shrine and an entrance gate lie to the south, and the shrine is
backed by forests; this is the typical landscape of a tutelary shrine. However, the
approach is paved, and there are few visitors except during festivals.
The Nakahigashi rural community center, which is also used for religious
events, was a Shingon Buddhism Toko Temple, but the anti-Buddhist movement
in the late nineteenth century destroyed it, along with many other Buddhist
temples. Some religious monuments—remnants of the temple—can still be
found on the site. A deserted Inari shrine lay east of the rural community. The
Shinto priest who lived there was presumably ascetic, because the shrine was
not dedicated by a territorial relation group. The priest died sometime in the
1980s, and the shrine has been deserted since then. It is now dilapidated and no
one visits. A ritual for preventing disaster was also performed in Nakahigashi