In Japan, it’s customary to start off the new year be going to a Shinto shrine to pray for good fortune in the new year. While many are thought to convey a vague blessing of overall prosperity, some ...

Naohiko Shimoda's Contemporary Kamidanas (Shinto shrines). While traditional kamidana vary from small and simple shapes to more ornate shrine reproductions, architect Naohiko Shimoda has created a ...

ISE, Japan (AP) — Deep in the forests of the Japanese Alps, Shinto priests keep watch as woodsmen dressed in ceremonial white chop their axes into two ancient cypress trees, timing their swings so ...

ISE, Japan The steady crowds cross an arched bridge and follow a pebbled path into a forest of towering cypress trees, bowing before a simple gate that stands between them and the holiest place in ...

Deep in the forests of the Japanese Alps, Shinto priests watch as woodsmen, clad in ceremonial white, fell two ancient cypress trees. Their axes strike from three precise directions, timed with ...