The shrine itself is an innocuous and quite elegant place, as shinto shrines generally are.
Chichibu's sacred mountain, Mount Bukozan, has been the location for the Shinto Shrine for more than 2, 000 years.
Following the path leads to arguably the most splendid Shinto shrine in Tokyo, a traditional building constructed from Japanese cypress.
Its old-school pot stills are giant brassy beasts -- topped by Shinto religious garlands -- and fired by powdered natural coal.
The local young men's group, which plays a key role at festivals by carrying the mikoshi (portable Shinto deity's house), has all but disappeared.
Together, the future of sumo clapped their hands, not to honor the Shinto gods, but simply to signal the start of some good, dust-kicking fun.
But I am also Buddhist and Quaker, and have seriously explored Catholicism, Episcopalianism, Judaism, Sufi, Shinto, Islam, Unitarianism, Ethical Culture, and a whole host more of religions.
"Sumo teaches discipline and history and is good for the soul, " says school principal Eishin Kosaka, harkening to the sport's past as an athletic embodiment of Japan's Shinto religion.
In Japan, the law prevents children from donating organs, but there is also an overall reluctance to donate organs that is rooted in Shinto and Buddhist attitudes towards death.
So the community fought back: a disciple of a local Shinto priest was called in to train a crack team of wrestling coaches, and Kosaka organized a sumo club that wouldn't contravene the Education Ministry rulebook.
To the Westerner, it can seem as if there are two contrary Japans one a slow, peaceful land of Shinto shrines and tea ceremonies, the other a jangling zone of automation, neon signs, and bullet trains packed with commuters.
Set in the dense forests of the Kii Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, three sacred sites - Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, Koyasan - linked by pilgrimage routes to the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyoto, reflect the fusion of Shinto, rooted in the ancient tradition of nature worship in Japan, and Buddhism, which was introduced from China and the Korean Peninsula.
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