Shinto Rituals

It was great to be back at school and to see the children again, despite feeling pretty lousy health wise.

This photograph was taken at the Shinto shrine next door to my residence. You can see the chi-no-wa, which is a straw rope which you walk through in a figure of eight to purify yourself at New Year, and a picture of a wild boar (inoshishi.) I said a few weeks ago that this year is the year of the pig. My mistake. It is the year of the pig in the Chinese zodiac. In Japan it is the year of the wild boar.

I like to assign a song for each year, so here is my song for Year Of The Wild Boars (with some poetic licence.) Actually, there is six degrees of separation between Wild Boys and wild boars; I wonder if you can work it out?