A Former Shrine Maiden’s Strolling Tales 〜My First Connection with…〜

2024.09.24

英語版「元巫女てくてく小噺」その① 神様との繋がりは・・・

Growing up in a rural town where it wasn’t uncommon to walk for an hour without encountering a single soul, I experienced a unique connection to a shrine from the moment I was born.

The first time I was linked to a shrine was through my naming ceremony. Yes, my name was given to me at a shrine.

Not only myself, but all my siblings, cousins, and the many children born into our family over the years have had their names bestowed upon them by a shrine.

In my case, the head priest presented several name options, and my parents selected one from that list. This was the same process for all of my relatives, so I grew up assuming this was the norm.

However, after moving to Tokyo, whenever the topic came up and I mentioned, “I was named by the [XX] Shrine,” people would always respond with surprise: “What? You got your name from a shrine? How does that work?” Every time I brought it up, it was met with astonishment.

To this day, I have yet to meet a friend or acquaintance who was also named at a shrine.

Even when asking those from my parents’ generation, now in their 70s, no one had experienced this either. As for my friends from my hometown, I’ve never really confirmed it with them since I always assumed they were all named at [XX] Shrine like I was.

Perhaps some of you reading this may be thinking, “That’s the same for me!” But I suspect it’s a rare occurrence among those around you.

Indeed, I’ve never seen a scene in a drama, manga, or novel where a character exclaims, “The baby is finally born! We need to ask the priest to name them right away!” It’s not something you see often. I have, however, seen historical dramas where landlords or respected teachers give the names, and maybe once in a movie, I saw a monk doing the naming.

As my life has progressed, whenever friends or acquaintances have babies, the parents always carefully think of meaningful and beautiful names themselves.

Yet, within my family, the tradition remains unchanged—we continue to have our names given by a shrine.