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Imagine walking through 5,000 bright orange and black gates wooded hills with blooming cherry blossoms.

While exploring Japan on my Google Cardboard, I discovered the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan. I was drawn to this Shinto shrine because of the 5,000+ bright orange torri gates than fill more than 4km of trail space through the hills above the shrine. I was so excited to get the chance to visit this spectacular place on my recent trip to Japan.

Explore this shrine with your students and use the information below to teach about the cultural heritage of Japan. Then, check out the upcoming part two to this post–a cute fox art activity to connect the Japanese kitsune (fox) sculpture and wishes. Be sure to sign up to receive all posts by e-mail to be notified when the activity is posted!

Shinto Religion

Shinto is the original ethnic religion of Japan and still remains an important piece of the cultural heritage of the people of Japan. Shinto differs from other religions as it is more a way of life rather than a system of stories and myths to explain the world. There is no Shinto god or official founder of the religion, and Shinto adherents are free to follow explore their spirituality in any way they personally see fit. (Source: BBC Religions: Shinto)

Shinto followers use rituals and shrines to communicate with special spirits called kami. While the kami are not gods, Shinto adherents do believe that the kami will benefit our lives if they are honored. When I visited several shrines on my trip to Japan, I enjoyed witnessing many Japanese people performing these rituals to honor the kami.

Shinto Shrines

Shrines are a key component of the Shinto religion, and thousands of shrines exist in Japan today from large shrines like the Fushimi Inari to small household shrines. Each has it’s own local character and personality.

Most people visit their local shrine to pay their respects to the kami, but many people visit a Shinto shrine in the first few days of the year to start their year on a positive note. This is called hatsumōde. In hatsumōde, visitors make wishes for the new year and get a fortune/oracle called an omikuji. They bring the omikuji from the year before to burn to say goodbye to the prior year.

In the first 3 days of 2010, Fushimi Inari Shrine alone had 2.7 million visitors! (Source: Wikipedia) And I thought it was crowded when I went!

Torii Gates

Torii gates mark the entrances of most Shinto shrines. The gates help prepare visitors to enter the sacred space. The gates are usually two column posts with two sweeping lintels across the top. While most shrines probably only have one torii gate, Fushimi Inari Shrine is unique with its thousands of gates.

Fushimi Inari is dedicated to Inari who is the kami of foxes, fertility, agriculture and industry, prosperity, and success. Each torii gate at this Shinto shrine was donated by a Japanese business to honor Inari and help fund the shrine.

I was amazed at the gorgeous gates with the black Japanese kanji and katana on them. The writing was on the back, and my sister and I wondered why. When we realized the text was basically names of businesses, the gates took on a new feel. We wondered how we would feel if the text was English names of law firms, restaurants, and other business. How do the Japanese people feel when they see the text on the gates?

Going through all of the gates was a 2 hour+ walk, and we only scratched the surface due to my annoying cold! It was a breathtaking site!

Discussion Points

Use these discussion topics with your students to further explore this place.

• Image walking through this row of gates. How would it make you feel? How would you compare these gates with other doorways and entrances in your life?
• What do you think the impact of the Japanese writing is on the experience of different types of visitors?

Shinto Fox Art Activity

Stay tuned for part two of this post which goes into the fox imagery throughout the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Sign up for e-mails to be notified when it is posted!

In my 2-3 days in Kyoto, Japan, I had half dozen moments where I said “this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” I’m an art teacher. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful things, so that is really saying something! One of my favorite places from my whole trip was this little gem, the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple in the Arashiayama district of Kyoto.

Check out this delightful temple, and use the discussion questions and activities below to explore the temple with your students.

 

My sister mentioned there was a temple with many moss-covered sculptures of people, and I knew I had to see it! It was a little out of the way, but we ended up taking a gorgeous walk among traditional mossy thatched-roof houses to get there.

I was not disappointed by the extra travel to get there. Look at this total and utter arty deliciousness.

I honestly couldn’t contain my happiness at this moment. The temple grounds include 1,200 of these adorable statues of Rakkan, which are disciples of Buddha.

Each sculpture has its own personality and character, and each clearly was sculpted by a different person.

The style and emotions capture your heart and make you smile.

When I was visiting all of these sites in Japan, there were not a lot of signs or information in English about each place, and I didn’t have a data plan on my phone, so my information-seeking art history nerd self was stifled by the lack of info. This place did have a small brochure which provided the basic information.

This temple dates back to the 8th century, but has had a series of unfortunate disasters that have caused it to be rebuilt and/or moved several times. The last time it was destroyed was in 1950 by a typhoon. It took 30 years to restore the temple.

The sculptures were carved by worshippers and supporters of the temple in celebration of it’s restoration.

Art Discussion Questions

Have your students compare three of the sculptures and discuss them together.

• Who do you think these sculpture represent?
• What emotions do you notice?
• What can you tell about the personality of the person?
• Were these made by the same artist or different artists? How can you tell?

Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Buddhist Rakkan Sculpture Lesson Plan

Invite them to make their own sculpture of an expressive figure using the following lesson sequence.

1. Ask students to first make a list of the things artists can do to express emotion. Give them different emotions to discuss. Have them mimic the facial expressions they might use as well as the lines and colors that could express those feelings. Try silly, angry, distraught, and thoughtful.
2. Look at the Buddhist Rakkan sculptures and discuss using the questions above. After discussing, tell students to story of the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple and how different worshippers, not professional artists, carved and donated the sculptures to the temple.
3. Have students write a story about a sculpture of their choosing.
4. Have students pick an emotion and make an expressive sculpture. For older students, you could try having them carve using foam or soap, but you’d generally have better results using clay. The emotions would be easier to reproduce, and the children would feel more successful with the project.

In my recent trip to Japan, we visited Kyoto, which was one of the most fascinating places I have ever visited. Kyoto has over 1600 temples and shrines! While visiting the impressive Chionin Temple in Kyoto, and I noticed some interesting little sculptures at the base of several of the shrine altars on the temple grounds.

Because all signage was in Japanese, and because I didn’t have data on my phone, I was just left to wonder what they were. I’m excited to research them now and share with you what I have learned. Show these cute sculptures to your children and complete the below learning activities to explore them further!

(I’ll be writing more about the temples I visited later. Be sure to sign up to receive posts by e-mail if you’d like to read more about my trip to Japan!)

I first noticed them in the main shrine of Chionin. In front of the altar sat 4 different Mokugyo sitting atop a decorated pillow with a mallet of some sort. I thought maybe the sculptures were holders for gong mallets as I saw many gongs on the temple grounds.

In a smaller shrine amidst a gorgeous cemetery held a small open room with many more of the sculptures without the imagery spread out with woven rope rugs. I was able to walk around them in this room, so I was able to see each has a handle and a notch to hold the mallets.

The Mokugyo in the room were more simple without the carved designs, while the ones under the altar depicts an animal or creature. To me, they looked almost like frogs, but they actually represent fish.

Looking Questions

Before sharing the below information with your children, invite them to speculate on the function of these sculptures from the temple as I had to do on my visit. Ask the below questions of the students.

• What do you notice? What do you see that makes you say that?
• What are they made out of? What textures do you notice?
• What images are represented on the sculptures? 
• What do you notice about the surroundings?
• For what purpose do you think these sculptures were used?
• Why do you think they used representations of fish? What could fish symbolize?

Art Information

Never did it cross my mind that these sculptures were instruments! I assumed the stick was used for a drum or gong, but I didn’t notice that the sculpture itself was the drum. I feel a little dumb for not figuring that one out!

These sculptures are called Mokugyo, Muyu, or wooden fish. These are wooden instruments commonly seen in Japan, China, and Korea. The instrument is used for cadence and accompanies the chanting of the monk. The Buddhist monks chanted sutras which are ancient religious texts and teaching.

Check out the sound the Mokugyo makes in this video. Different size wooden fish make different tones.

The Mokugyo often show two fish coming together with a pearl on the handle connecting their two mouths. According to Wikipedia, the pearl represents unity, and the fish represent wakefulness.

Activity Ideas

After discussing the features and functions of the Mokugyo, use these ideas to further explore these fascinating artworks.

• Use this artwork as a part of a world religions unit on Buddhism. This book is a very well-reviewed collection of Buddhist stories.
• Practice reading sutras to the beat of drums or clapped hands.
• Make your own drums or other musical instruments.
• Study musical instruments from around the world. (See also: Indonesian Sesando)

Stay tuned for more posts about all of the amazing sites and artworks I experienced in Japan! 🙂