Happy New Year!
I visited the neiborhood shrine on New Year’s Day.
Hatsumode is a person’s first visit to a temple or a shrine.
When you visit to a temple or a shrine, be mindful of the differences in prayer manners at shrines and temples.
The ritual is the same at first; washing the left hand, then the right hand with water, ringing the bell and putting a donation in the box.
But at shrines, you're supposed to bow twice, clap twice, pray, then bow.
At the temples to pray with your palms together.
The reason why the practices are different stems from the different origins and purposes of shrines and temples.
Temples are the residences of monks who teach Buddihism, which came to Japan from India via China.
Shrines are the residences of “kami,” or gods, worshipped in indigenous Japanese Shinto faith.
All shrines have a “torii,” or a gate, at the entrance to separate human territory from the realm of the kami.
