下谷神社 Shitaya Jinja, photo by Michael Glenn I got up early to catch the train into Tokyo. I headed to 下谷神社 Shitaya Jinja to fill in my 集印帳 shūin-chō stamp book. But I also wanted to purchase some 御守 Omamori as gifts for my students back home. 2024 is the year of the dragon and Shitaya Jinja has a bit of a dragon theme. You might remember on a previous visit I was very lucky to be invited to enter the 拝殿 haiden. There, on the ceiling, is a painting of a dragon by 横山 大観 Yokoyama Taikan that was commissioned by the parishioners. I thought my students would appreciate omamori with a dragon motif. After my visit to Shitaya Jinja, I had another train ride all the way back out to Noda-shi, and the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo. The first class was with Noguchi Sensei, and I was definitely ready to hear his laugh. I heard him as soon as I opened the door of the dojo. I was the second student to arrive and Noguchi gave me a cheerful welcome before I even stepped over the threshold. We had a g...
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