In 1475, a fight erupted between the priests of a shrine in Kyoto and local farmers, who claimed that the priests had unlawfully driven them off their land and incorporated it into the shrine's estate. While some of the priests were away on official duties at the imperial court, the farmers broke into the shrine and attempted to remove the "goshintai" (an object of devotion believed to contain sacred power) from within the main hall, but were pushed back by members of the shrine militia.
This incident took place at Kamo Wake Ikazuchi Jinja, more commonly known as Kamigamo Jinja, then and now one of the Japan's most important and venerated Shinto shrines. "Enduring Identities" tells the story of this shrine. It is primarily aimed at the academic community, but is also of value for the general reader with an interest in Japanese culture. For, while its focus is on a single shrine, the author, John Nelson, who teaches anthropology and religion at the University of Texas, Austin, skillfully uses Kamigamo Jinja to explore a larger theme: the role of Shinto in contemporary Japan.
Religion has sometimes been portrayed as playing, at best, a subordinate role in Japanese culture. Yet, as the author points out, wherever one goes in contemporary Japan one cannot help but notice the ubiquitous neighborhood shrine. His study convincingly shows that shrine Shinto continues to be one of the most prevalent institutions in Japanese culture. Add Buddhism, Christianity and the many "new religions," and it is obvious that speculations about the insignificance of religion in Japanese culture testify not to the nonspiritual character of the Japanese, but only to the fact that socioreligious arrangements in Japan differ from those in the West.