Flower: Sakaki
Sacred Symbol: Torii (Japanese Gate)
Mantra/Prayer: Prayer of Purification
(Hi-Fu-Mi Norito)
Shinto, the name of the indigenous religion of Japan, means ‘the
way of the divine’.
In Shinto, sakaki, also known as Japanese Cleyera, is a broadleaf shrub
or small tree viewed as sacred. Evergreen and therefore a symbol of
immortality, it is commonly planted around shrines to act as a sacred
fence.
The word sakaki is a Japanese original term, which means ‘a tree on the
border between deities and man’. It combines two words, ‘tree’ and ‘kami’,
with kami often translated as ‘god’, ‘lord’, or ‘deity’
Among Shinto traditions, you will find the Tamagushi ritual, a form of
offering composed of a piece of white paper attached to a sakaki leaf with
a hemp string. This Shinto accessory creates a bridge between humans
and the kami, conveying the believers’ wishes to the respective diety.
A Torii is a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, and a spot where kami are welcomed to travel through.
An important part of Shinto worship is the offering of a
prayer (norito) to the deities (kami).
The text that surrounds the painting, written in phonetic hiragana
characters, is the Hi-Fu-Mi prayer, which is used to attune one’s voice to
the Divine. It is also a prayer of purification that has the power of changing
misfortune into good fortune.