ElLily
Level 11
SHINSEI SEINARU MONASTERY APPLICATION
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Out-Of-Character (OOC) Section
IN-GAME NAME (IGN):
PetrichorLover
DISCORD NAME & TAG:
@minasauruss
WHAT IS YOUR TIMEZONE?:
Gmt+3 | Finland
DO YOU HAVE A MICROPHONE?:
I do!
DO YOU HAVE ANY PREVIOUS BANS?
N/A
DESCRIBE YOUR ACTIVITY ON THE SERVER:
I would say I'm pretty active on the server, usually playing 6-8 hours on weekdays and 6+ on weekends, the time divided between all my accounts. Only reason, really for my activity to sometimes decrease by a few hours in a week being my university exams.
I have played SRP for almost two years, starting by playing a few times a week before slowly but steadily starting to play more and more before creating the monster my playtime is today. Sometimes I can find myself playing SRP for up to 10 hours in a single day. During the time I have been around, I have tried all sorts of different things, from basic high school life to playing on a sports team. I even tried college life twice, but both times my characters ended up dropping out after a week since I realized collegeRPing isn't really my thing. I also have and still do roleplay as a professor, and I absolutely love it.
My activity mainly consists of hosting college classes and familyrping on my professor account, and playing
baseball or just hanging around with my friends on my high school characters.
WHAT POSITION ARE YOU APPLYING FOR?:
Shrine Priest
WHAT KNOWLEDGE DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE OF SHINTOISM AND ARE YOU PREPARED/WILLING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE RELIGION?:
Currently, I'd say my level of understanding shintoism is a bit above the basics. After searching and learning more about the
religion and its customs, I have developed a tiny bit of an addiction to it, believing it will someday grow into an unhealthy obsession like my
interest in Greek mythology has. I absoltely love the mythology about all the kamis/deities. Especially the stories about Susanoo.
I understand and have learnt the basic history and background of Shintoism from ethnic courses, books, and movies. Such as where it is orianted from and
what kind of beliefs it has. Writing this application has also taught me a few things that I wouldn't have known without searching more about them. For example, I have seen Kagura Suzu in movies and in pictures of ethnic books, thinking it's just an instrument for the rituals, never really thinking much of it. However, searching more into the religion has taught me a lot of new things, such as its symbolism and the meaning of the 12 bells.
WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT FOR THIS ROLE OVER OTHER APPLICANTS?
I don't think I can really say that I stand out compared to any other applicant, as I don't know them personally.
They could be very lovely people and perfect for the spot. But I do think I should at least be considered due,
my basic knowledge and interest of shintoism, experience, and activity on the server.
DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOU WILL HAVE TO ATTEND MANDATORY TRAININGS TO BE TAUGHT MORE ABOUT SHINTOISM AND THE ACCORDING PROCEDURES?:
Yes, I do.
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Out-Of-Character (OOC) Section
IN-GAME NAME (IGN):
PetrichorLover
DISCORD NAME & TAG:
@minasauruss
WHAT IS YOUR TIMEZONE?:
Gmt+3 | Finland
DO YOU HAVE A MICROPHONE?:
I do!
DO YOU HAVE ANY PREVIOUS BANS?
N/A
DESCRIBE YOUR ACTIVITY ON THE SERVER:
I would say I'm pretty active on the server, usually playing 6-8 hours on weekdays and 6+ on weekends, the time divided between all my accounts. Only reason, really for my activity to sometimes decrease by a few hours in a week being my university exams.
I have played SRP for almost two years, starting by playing a few times a week before slowly but steadily starting to play more and more before creating the monster my playtime is today. Sometimes I can find myself playing SRP for up to 10 hours in a single day. During the time I have been around, I have tried all sorts of different things, from basic high school life to playing on a sports team. I even tried college life twice, but both times my characters ended up dropping out after a week since I realized collegeRPing isn't really my thing. I also have and still do roleplay as a professor, and I absolutely love it.
My activity mainly consists of hosting college classes and familyrping on my professor account, and playing
baseball or just hanging around with my friends on my high school characters.
WHAT POSITION ARE YOU APPLYING FOR?:
Shrine Priest
WHAT KNOWLEDGE DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE OF SHINTOISM AND ARE YOU PREPARED/WILLING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE RELIGION?:
Currently, I'd say my level of understanding shintoism is a bit above the basics. After searching and learning more about the
religion and its customs, I have developed a tiny bit of an addiction to it, believing it will someday grow into an unhealthy obsession like my
interest in Greek mythology has. I absoltely love the mythology about all the kamis/deities. Especially the stories about Susanoo.
I understand and have learnt the basic history and background of Shintoism from ethnic courses, books, and movies. Such as where it is orianted from and
what kind of beliefs it has. Writing this application has also taught me a few things that I wouldn't have known without searching more about them. For example, I have seen Kagura Suzu in movies and in pictures of ethnic books, thinking it's just an instrument for the rituals, never really thinking much of it. However, searching more into the religion has taught me a lot of new things, such as its symbolism and the meaning of the 12 bells.
WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT FOR THIS ROLE OVER OTHER APPLICANTS?
I don't think I can really say that I stand out compared to any other applicant, as I don't know them personally.
They could be very lovely people and perfect for the spot. But I do think I should at least be considered due,
my basic knowledge and interest of shintoism, experience, and activity on the server.
DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOU WILL HAVE TO ATTEND MANDATORY TRAININGS TO BE TAUGHT MORE ABOUT SHINTOISM AND THE ACCORDING PROCEDURES?:
Yes, I do.
˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧
In-Character (IC) Section
SECTION 1: Character Details
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CHARACTERS FULL NAME:
Suna Hagino
CHARACTERS TITLE (E.g. Mr. Mrs. Miss):
Miss
CHARACTERS AGE (E.g. 21-80):
24
CHARACTERS MARITAL STATUS:
Unmarried
CHARACTERS NATIONALITY:
Japanese
CHARACTERS PHONE-NUMBER:
(+81) (030)-294-5997
WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR APPLYING TO WORK AT THE MONASTERY?:
I have always had an interest in not just Shintoism, but in many different religions and mythologies. I have always found them fascinating. When I was younger, I would read books about religions and mythologies for hours upon hours without end, fascinated by their stories and tales. Only in my late teens did I realize that Shintoism was the one that I felt as my own. My family was never really into practicing religions, as we visited shrines only during weddings, funerals, and so on. Now that I'm my own individual and I get to choose my own path, I've decided to dedicate myself fully to shintoism and have already traveled across numerous shrines, where I have already met many wonderful people. Now I know what I want in life, and that is to practice shintoism and teach about it to others. From all of the shrines that I have visited, I wish to work at the Shinsei Seinaru monastery, due to its lovely atomsphere. Every time I visited the shrine, have I met nothing but happy and welcoming people, making it seem like nothing but a lovely place to practice my beliefs at.
TELL ME WHAT HISTORY AND INFORMATION YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SHINSEI SEINARU MONASTERY:
The shrine grounds have a very interesting and compelling history, from being a place of worship for not just one but two religions over the years and being one of the oldest buildings in Karakura to suffering two fires in its lifetime.
The shrine's construction started in 744 and lasted around 20 years before being finished.
Back then, it was known as Akatera Monastery before its current name came to light.
Akera Monastery practiced Buddhism on its grounds, as it was the most popular religion in Japan back in the days.
The monastery was able to practice Buddhism in peace until the year 1176, when it was burned down to the
ground. The burnt monastery grounds were left to be for about fifty years until 1228, when it was rebuilt, the monastery also got a new name and was for while called the Kisune Monastery. Kisune Monastery didn't have as much time to practice Buddhism as its previous
Monastery had, due to it being burned down just a few hundred years after its construction in 1590.
After the burn, the shrine got rebuilt yet again twenty years later and got the name we know it by today, the Shinsei Seinaru Monastery.
Unlike the previous shrines, Shinsei Seinaru Monastery practiced and still practices Shintoism.
WRITE A LETTER TO THE MONASTERY LEAD :
[!] The handwriting would be clean & neat [!]
Dear Shinsei Seinaru monastary lead,SECTION 1: Character Details
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CHARACTERS FULL NAME:
Suna Hagino
CHARACTERS TITLE (E.g. Mr. Mrs. Miss):
Miss
CHARACTERS AGE (E.g. 21-80):
24
CHARACTERS MARITAL STATUS:
Unmarried
CHARACTERS NATIONALITY:
Japanese
CHARACTERS PHONE-NUMBER:
(+81) (030)-294-5997
WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR APPLYING TO WORK AT THE MONASTERY?:
I have always had an interest in not just Shintoism, but in many different religions and mythologies. I have always found them fascinating. When I was younger, I would read books about religions and mythologies for hours upon hours without end, fascinated by their stories and tales. Only in my late teens did I realize that Shintoism was the one that I felt as my own. My family was never really into practicing religions, as we visited shrines only during weddings, funerals, and so on. Now that I'm my own individual and I get to choose my own path, I've decided to dedicate myself fully to shintoism and have already traveled across numerous shrines, where I have already met many wonderful people. Now I know what I want in life, and that is to practice shintoism and teach about it to others. From all of the shrines that I have visited, I wish to work at the Shinsei Seinaru monastery, due to its lovely atomsphere. Every time I visited the shrine, have I met nothing but happy and welcoming people, making it seem like nothing but a lovely place to practice my beliefs at.
TELL ME WHAT HISTORY AND INFORMATION YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SHINSEI SEINARU MONASTERY:
The shrine grounds have a very interesting and compelling history, from being a place of worship for not just one but two religions over the years and being one of the oldest buildings in Karakura to suffering two fires in its lifetime.
The shrine's construction started in 744 and lasted around 20 years before being finished.
Back then, it was known as Akatera Monastery before its current name came to light.
Akera Monastery practiced Buddhism on its grounds, as it was the most popular religion in Japan back in the days.
The monastery was able to practice Buddhism in peace until the year 1176, when it was burned down to the
ground. The burnt monastery grounds were left to be for about fifty years until 1228, when it was rebuilt, the monastery also got a new name and was for while called the Kisune Monastery. Kisune Monastery didn't have as much time to practice Buddhism as its previous
Monastery had, due to it being burned down just a few hundred years after its construction in 1590.
After the burn, the shrine got rebuilt yet again twenty years later and got the name we know it by today, the Shinsei Seinaru Monastery.
Unlike the previous shrines, Shinsei Seinaru Monastery practiced and still practices Shintoism.
WRITE A LETTER TO THE MONASTERY LEAD :
[!] The handwriting would be clean & neat [!]
I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Suna Hagino, and I'm writing this letter to you in seek of a position as a priest.
My upbringing was not the most religious one. My family not really partipicating in the customs you usually see.
Even so, later in my teens, when I got to see the world with my own eyes and make my own choices.. I have grown a lot as an individual,
and at the same time, my interest in and the joy I get from shintoism has grown.
In my journey to adulthood, I traveled across Japan in search of what I wanted from life. I have met many wonderful people from different backgrounds and visited many beautiful places, from libraries to numerous shrines.
To me, being a priest isn't a job, it's a passion.
Yours faithfully, Suna.
BACKSTORY (100+ Words):
Suna Hagino was born on the 21st of June 1999. She was raised in a small village in the Tsuken island of Okinawa in Japan where she spent most of her childhood. She lived in a middle-class family which was relatively stable regarding their economics and assets, having their own little hut with a garden where Suna would spend most of her childhood playing with animals that would go by, wandering around the village. She was raised by grandmother, and both of her parents who even though always loved and supported her, would have liked for her to become a lawyer, following the same footsteps as her father and a grandfather, who sadly passed away due to gang violence. The constant high demands Suna got from her parents would later on her life affacet both Suna mentally and the relationship between her and her parents,
Suna has always been a really shy person ever since her childhood to the points where she would go to huge lengths just to avoid socialization on different occasions. Though she may not enjoy the company of other people, she has always loved animals in particular the wildlife that surrounded her and her village. (disney princess moment) She befriended 2 bunnies, a bird and a turtle, who she would feed and take care of without her parents knowing as they didn't approve this behavior from her. She really valued animal life, even to the point where when she turned 14 years old, she decided to turn vegan and stop eating meat or any other animal products because she was against the way they were treated and killed only for food.
During most of her childhood Suna really had only one friend named Nonaka Rin, they met at the local middle school during recess around the time when the school year started after Nonoka approached Suna trying to talk to her, as the extroverted person that she is. Though Suna was hesitant at first, mostly because of her social anxiety and lack of vocal skills, and even though they were basically opposites, they still became best friends and kept hanging out for many years to come. They would go on to go through many adventures together, mostly ending in Nonoka being the more vocal one to interact with others around them, since she's way more capable at socializing while Suna would end up being the smarter one, to always come up with fun ideas and activities, and also document all of their journeys, but also all of her days in a small diary that she kept and wrote on all of the time, filled with small doodles and illustrations and filled with detailed descriptions of everything that was going on around them.
Even though Suna has always had good grades in school, always getting max scores with relative ease she still wasn't really interested in the conventional way of studying. She had never had many friends, who would spend most of her free time either playing with local animals at the village or in her room reading, usually about different mythologies about spirits and ghosts. It is thanks to those stories that she read about the supernatural that she starts finding passion in the subject of history, in particular the religious and cultural side.
At the age of 13, Suna would develop a passion for reading about Shintoism, one of the main religions in Japanese culture of and she understood that it was practiced for keeping bad ghosts and spirits away. Shintoism as a religion doesn't really have a holy text from which one can read and find all of the information regarding the religion so most of her knowledge regarding it came from , local children's books, her school history book, and her grandmother's old stories she would tell her before going to sleep as oral lores. Still, she was fascinated by it and always searched for ghosts and spirits around everywhere where she went blaming random bad events like rain or papercuts on them.
At the age of 17, her grandmother died of old age, which leads to a multitude of arguments and a sort of tension in the family since Suna's new career path idea had become working at a Shinto Shrine and pursuing her studies there while at the same time finding peace in a simple life there, while her parents still want her to become a lawyer, while her grandmother was the only one who supported her for wanting to become a priest. Eventually, this ends up in a fight where Suna decides to drop out of school and leave the family house.
She crashes into Nonaka's home a few times and spends 2 months living in homelessness, in these 2 months she finds and adopts a hamster named Carlos, who would go on to become one of the things that she cared for the most in the entire world. One day she finds out that the village they were living in was getting rebuilt into a US military base and most of the natural scenery and culture were getting demolished. After talking about it together with her friend, Suna and Nonaka decide to leave their village in hopes to find a better place to stay at. They travel by foot across the middle of Japan, spending 4 years wandering around together as homeless people, getting food and water from local stores and doing cheap occasional labor for the minimum amount of money required to live. They also bring Suna's pet hamster, Carlos along. Many may think travelling by foot and sleeping under the stars would be something noone wants, but for Suna and Nonoka this was one of the highlights of their life, enjoying every second of it.
From the age of 17 to 21, the 3 of them wandered around Japan on foot. Suna documenting everything in her diary and also still studying Shinotism just due of her childhood curiosity. Everything changes when Suna's hamster Carlos, who represented luck for them, as having him would always lead to good things happening, sadly passes away at 3 years old. This scars Suna, as she would start having hallucinations of Carlos everywhere, swearing to have seen his ghost and getting driven into insanity and depression by his passing. Her friend Nonaka would try to comfort her, but it would be no use as half of Suna's existence was meant for protecting her hamster. Her diary would start to become messier, with unfinished sentences and random instances where Suna would claim to have seen Carlos's ghost. This would all culminate in her dedicating herself completely to Shintoism, in the pursuit of finding meaning in her life.
At the age of 23, Suna and Nonaka reach Karakura, in which they whitout a hesistation agreed to live in because of its quiet and calm nature and vast culture, in particular, what interested Suna was the Shintoist Shrine, which she visits and spends most of her time on to this day, to relax, spend time with the animals and nature, and to write in her diary, in hopes to get a glimpse of her hamster's ghost again.
˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧₊˚❀˚₊‧⁺˖˖⁺‧
SECTION 2: Self-Knowledge Details
All the traditions are held by different shrines and people all around Japan, from north to south.
Every shrine has its own ways of doing things, making all of the rituals, traditions and even the duties of the maidens and priests slightly vary
depending on which part of Japan the shrine is located at.
What duties do Shinto Priests and Maidens have?:
Maidens and priests, both important to the shine, share some tasks together, such as taking
care of the shrine. There are still some tasks not shared between the roles.
What maidens and priests do highly varies depending on which of the many shrines you're visiting, as
each shrine has its own set of rules and ways.
Maidens:
Maidens can most often be found assisting the priests, telling fortune tellings to the shrine's guests or taking care of the shrine's giftshop.
Priests:
Priests take care of the cerenomies and rituals, such as weddings and funerals while having the maidens on their side assisting them.
What are the steps needed to be taken at the purification trough before entering the Shrine?:
The purification process starts with the person entering to the shrine walking up to chozuya (big basin
filled with water). The water is used in the purification ritual to cleanse the person.
The purication itself starts when the person grapping an ladle with their right hand before pouring some water over their left palm.
After that, the person switches the ladle to their left hand before repeating the process, pouring a little bit of the water from the ladle into their right palm.
After both of the palms are cleaned, the person would switch the hand for the ladle yet again, it now sitting on their right hand.
With the ladle in their right hand, the person would then pour some of the leftover water into their left palm
before bending over to sip the water to their mouth rinsing it too.
After the mouth is rinsed, the person would then drip some of the water into their left hand, cleansing it yet again before
placing the laddle in an upright position, letting the water drip off through the ladle's handle cleaning it. After
everything would be cleansed, and the ladle being empty, the person returns the ladle to its original spot, letting it rest at the chouya.
How are offerings to a Kami performed?:
There are two types of offerings; Money and food offerings:
Money offerings:
Money offerings are most often done on New Year's Eve, when most of the shrine visitors visit the shrine for the first time of the year.
The offerings are given to the offering box before praying in front of haiden. The amount
of money does not really matter while doing the offering, but people usually tend to go for certain amounts, such as the number 5 and avoid other
amounts such as 10, due to the names resembling the words "good and bad luck" in Japanese. The money should be dropped into the box respeecfully and
not thrown. If the haiden has a bell, the person should ring it by holding the string of the bell with both hands, even though its not a mandatory process and not all shrines even have a bell at their Haiden. The bell is believed to purify the space for deities arrival.
After the offering is given and the possible bell has been rang can the person give their prayer.
Food offerings:
The food offerings are normally done at shrines, where the people give the offerings to the shrine priests for them to do the offering ritual, but
the offerings can be done at home too. Most common offerings are sake and rice, even though the offerings may vary according to which part of Japan we're at, the shrine, the ocassion for example a wedding, festival and which kami the offering is for. The offering can be really anything except animal meat due to the tabboo of shedding blood on sacred areas in Shintoism.
How do you perform a tea ceremony ritual?:
Tea cerenomy traditionally held in a room with tatami mats, is japanese ritual of preparing and serving
tea in front of guests & to guests.
The cerenomy takes hours of time, starting at the morning where the host of the cerenomy takes care of the cerenomy room and the utensils needed in the cerenomy, making sure both the room and utensils are clean and that the utensils are nicely laid out and ready for the actual cerenomy later on the day.
The cerenomy itself starts when all the quests arrive to the cerenomy room and sit down, usually the more important
guests sitting at front closest to the host. The host of the room will sit in front of the guests, their face facing towards the guests.
The utensils needed in the cerenomy will sit between the host and the guests.
Before any tea is prepared the host will start by cleaning all the utensils one by one in front of the guests with an silk cloth.
Even though the utensils were cleaned at the morning, will the host still clean the utensils again to show respect towards the guests.
The silk cloth can be found from the host's kimono and its also used not just in the cleaning but in handiling of the
hot tea pot. While the utensils are being cleaned will the host let water boil in front of the guests.
After all the utensils are cleaned will finally the tea making itself start by the host adding bit of matcha tea powder and
hot water into an bowl, before whisking it into foamy green tea.
The Bowl of green tea will then be passed around each guest, everyone taking a sip of it before handing it to another guest, the most important guest at front
taking the first sip. After every guest has taken a sip of the tea, will it be handed back to the host, where the tools are
yet again cleaned and the ceremony ends.
In the cerenomies the host may sometimes offer sweets to balance with the bitterness of the tea.
Explain what a Tamagushi, Ofuda and Kagura Suzu is and what they're used for:
Tamagushi
The tamagushi is an offering used at shrine in various shinto rituals such as weddings and funerals.
Tamagushi is decorated tree branch, decorated with paper straps and pieces of cloth.
The Tamagushi branch is usually from speficic tree called "sakaki tree" as it's believed to be
a sacred tree in Shintoism and due to that can often be found planted in shrine grounds around japan.
But if its not possible to get access to sakaki trees, other kind of trees such as oak trees can be used.
Ofuda
Ofuda is a talisman, believed to bring good luck and other kinds of blessings, depending
what the person wishes for the ofuda to bless. They can most often be seen at shrines and sticked to the walls of homes, sometimes even at people's
wallets. Ofudas can be made from various things such as wood, and cloth, but it's most often made out of paper.
Usually ofunda has the name of the shrine or the name of worshipped kami on it, in black and red stamp on top.
They can't be bought, but they can be obtained by giving money donations to shrine.
Kagura Suzu
Kagura Suzu is sacred item, used in kagura mai dance by maidens to entertain the Kami's.
It's formed by 12 bells and an handle. The bells are in groups of 3, two bells being on the top, four in middle and lastly at botton 6 bells.
The bells are said to look like the fruits of magnolia tree.
(OPTIONAL) Based on your character; which other Kami would they worship?:
Susanoo, the god of sea and storms.
All the traditions are held by different shrines and people all around Japan, from north to south.
Every shrine has its own ways of doing things, making all of the rituals, traditions and even the duties of the maidens and priests slightly vary
depending on which part of Japan the shrine is located at.
What duties do Shinto Priests and Maidens have?:
Maidens and priests, both important to the shine, share some tasks together, such as taking
care of the shrine. There are still some tasks not shared between the roles.
What maidens and priests do highly varies depending on which of the many shrines you're visiting, as
each shrine has its own set of rules and ways.
Maidens:
Maidens can most often be found assisting the priests, telling fortune tellings to the shrine's guests or taking care of the shrine's giftshop.
Priests:
Priests take care of the cerenomies and rituals, such as weddings and funerals while having the maidens on their side assisting them.
What are the steps needed to be taken at the purification trough before entering the Shrine?:
The purification process starts with the person entering to the shrine walking up to chozuya (big basin
filled with water). The water is used in the purification ritual to cleanse the person.
The purication itself starts when the person grapping an ladle with their right hand before pouring some water over their left palm.
After that, the person switches the ladle to their left hand before repeating the process, pouring a little bit of the water from the ladle into their right palm.
After both of the palms are cleaned, the person would switch the hand for the ladle yet again, it now sitting on their right hand.
With the ladle in their right hand, the person would then pour some of the leftover water into their left palm
before bending over to sip the water to their mouth rinsing it too.
After the mouth is rinsed, the person would then drip some of the water into their left hand, cleansing it yet again before
placing the laddle in an upright position, letting the water drip off through the ladle's handle cleaning it. After
everything would be cleansed, and the ladle being empty, the person returns the ladle to its original spot, letting it rest at the chouya.
How are offerings to a Kami performed?:
There are two types of offerings; Money and food offerings:
Money offerings:
Money offerings are most often done on New Year's Eve, when most of the shrine visitors visit the shrine for the first time of the year.
The offerings are given to the offering box before praying in front of haiden. The amount
of money does not really matter while doing the offering, but people usually tend to go for certain amounts, such as the number 5 and avoid other
amounts such as 10, due to the names resembling the words "good and bad luck" in Japanese. The money should be dropped into the box respeecfully and
not thrown. If the haiden has a bell, the person should ring it by holding the string of the bell with both hands, even though its not a mandatory process and not all shrines even have a bell at their Haiden. The bell is believed to purify the space for deities arrival.
After the offering is given and the possible bell has been rang can the person give their prayer.
Food offerings:
The food offerings are normally done at shrines, where the people give the offerings to the shrine priests for them to do the offering ritual, but
the offerings can be done at home too. Most common offerings are sake and rice, even though the offerings may vary according to which part of Japan we're at, the shrine, the ocassion for example a wedding, festival and which kami the offering is for. The offering can be really anything except animal meat due to the tabboo of shedding blood on sacred areas in Shintoism.
How do you perform a tea ceremony ritual?:
Tea cerenomy traditionally held in a room with tatami mats, is japanese ritual of preparing and serving
tea in front of guests & to guests.
The cerenomy takes hours of time, starting at the morning where the host of the cerenomy takes care of the cerenomy room and the utensils needed in the cerenomy, making sure both the room and utensils are clean and that the utensils are nicely laid out and ready for the actual cerenomy later on the day.
The cerenomy itself starts when all the quests arrive to the cerenomy room and sit down, usually the more important
guests sitting at front closest to the host. The host of the room will sit in front of the guests, their face facing towards the guests.
The utensils needed in the cerenomy will sit between the host and the guests.
Before any tea is prepared the host will start by cleaning all the utensils one by one in front of the guests with an silk cloth.
Even though the utensils were cleaned at the morning, will the host still clean the utensils again to show respect towards the guests.
The silk cloth can be found from the host's kimono and its also used not just in the cleaning but in handiling of the
hot tea pot. While the utensils are being cleaned will the host let water boil in front of the guests.
After all the utensils are cleaned will finally the tea making itself start by the host adding bit of matcha tea powder and
hot water into an bowl, before whisking it into foamy green tea.
The Bowl of green tea will then be passed around each guest, everyone taking a sip of it before handing it to another guest, the most important guest at front
taking the first sip. After every guest has taken a sip of the tea, will it be handed back to the host, where the tools are
yet again cleaned and the ceremony ends.
In the cerenomies the host may sometimes offer sweets to balance with the bitterness of the tea.
Explain what a Tamagushi, Ofuda and Kagura Suzu is and what they're used for:
Tamagushi
The tamagushi is an offering used at shrine in various shinto rituals such as weddings and funerals.
Tamagushi is decorated tree branch, decorated with paper straps and pieces of cloth.
The Tamagushi branch is usually from speficic tree called "sakaki tree" as it's believed to be
a sacred tree in Shintoism and due to that can often be found planted in shrine grounds around japan.
But if its not possible to get access to sakaki trees, other kind of trees such as oak trees can be used.
Ofuda
Ofuda is a talisman, believed to bring good luck and other kinds of blessings, depending
what the person wishes for the ofuda to bless. They can most often be seen at shrines and sticked to the walls of homes, sometimes even at people's
wallets. Ofudas can be made from various things such as wood, and cloth, but it's most often made out of paper.
Usually ofunda has the name of the shrine or the name of worshipped kami on it, in black and red stamp on top.
They can't be bought, but they can be obtained by giving money donations to shrine.
Kagura Suzu
Kagura Suzu is sacred item, used in kagura mai dance by maidens to entertain the Kami's.
It's formed by 12 bells and an handle. The bells are in groups of 3, two bells being on the top, four in middle and lastly at botton 6 bells.
The bells are said to look like the fruits of magnolia tree.
(OPTIONAL) Based on your character; which other Kami would they worship?:
Susanoo, the god of sea and storms.
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