Shimane Prefecture draws visitors to Izumo Taisha, a shrine where Shinto deities gather to determine future connections.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. A shrine parishioner throws icy cold water on himself during the annual cold-endurance festival at Kanda ...

Shimane Prefecture — located in the southwest of Japan’s main island near Hiroshima Prefecture — is an off-the-beaten-path ...

Each shrine honors different deities from Japan’s Shinto sect. Visitors often trek ... Worshipping this mountain has long been part of Japanese culture. The area has connections to Shugendo ...

While Spain's headline trail now attracts up to half a million pilgrims a year, its twin is often uncrowded and offers a ...

Dozens of people soaked and splashed themselves in painfully icy cold water on Saturday in a pool at a Tokyo shrine, adhering to Japanese tradition to purify the soul and pray for good ...

Japan’s Supreme Court rendered judgment in January on a suit that was initially brought by 27 Korean plaintiffs in 2013. The ...

and dozens of his subordinates in a Ground Self-Defense Force committee investigating aircraft accidents visited the Shinto shrine on Jan. 9. A 1974 notice released in the name of the ...

In the Japanese Shinto religion, parts of nature – the ocean ... We mark ours with the red-ink stamp attached to the shrine and set off. The Kumano Kodo is based on a 300km route between ...

Dozens of people soaked and splashed themselves in painfully icy cold water on Saturday in a pool at a Tokyo shrine, adhering to Japanes ...