Sorry Keiman
Didn't was able to find anything about Gasaraki
Do ya are sure it was not a mispelling?
Shintoism is not my strong point anyway.
But I've found some answers that may have something to do with what ye are
searching for.
For "kai", I found this:
Kai-i
Ranks within the Shinto Priesthood. There are four ranks: jô (purity), mei
(brightness), sei (righteousness), and choku (uprightness). Regulations for
ranking are fixed by the Jinja Honchô.
Jinja Honchô
Association of Shinto Shrines organized when the nation's shrines were
disestablished as a result of the Occupation order issued in 1945.
Membership includes most of all shrines in Japan (about 80.000 shrines) and
about 20.000 priests. Guided by the spiritual leadership of Ise no Jingû.
The Jinja Honchô works to preserve Shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto) and to
Maintain Principles of integrity. Its head office is in Tokyo, and local
brances (jinjachô) are located throughout Japan.
Jinja Shintô
Shrine Shinto. The traditional religious practices carried on in shrines
throughout Japan's history, as well as the attitudes toward life which
support these practices. At the core of this religion exists a reverent
religious experience which has prevailed from antiquity and which leads
Japanese believers to experience the will and activity of the gods through
various events of everyday life. Shrine Shinto claims no founder, but
through the interpretation of classical mythology and the re-evaluation of
folk ways, it is gradually organizing its own theology. The
politico-theoretical side of Jinja-Shintô is called Kokka Shintô or State
Shinto. At present there are in Japan some 80.000 shrines of which some 97
percent belong to the Jinja Honchô.
Kugutsu and Kugai, I didn't found anything about.
I found however Asagutsu:
A kind of shoe worn by nobles in ancient times, and by Shinto priests during
the performance of certain religious ceremonies today. Believed to have
originally been constructed of leather, asagutsu have been made of hollowed
paulownia wood finished in black lacquer since the Heian period.
You can perhaps have more acess to shinto mysticism without becoming a
priest, through shugendo, but you will surelly face the Honji Suijaku Setsu
cosmogony inside the Shinbutsu Shûgô that I already have mentioned before.
regards
Octavio Augusto Okimoto Alves de Carvalho
São Paulo - SP Brazil
Post Scriptum: I could put the kanji of the japanese mentioned names here,
but does not have any apropriate software do input such data in the email.
Does anybody know any freeware download I can do for that purpose?
Message: 15
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 07:28:51 -0800 (PST)
From: Joseph Salvador <
jdsalvador3@...>
Subject: Re: Re:Gasaraki/shintoism mysticism questions
Do a websearch for "Japanese Journal of Religious
Studies" and find the publisher's site. They have most
if not all of their article online as PDF's that you
can check. I ran across an entire issue on Shugendo,
but I didn't actually read them yet, that might help
you.
I think it was an issue from the late 1980's, not
sure...
Joe
--- keiman0 <
KeimanZero@...> wrote:
> Can any of ya explain the meanings and historical
> significance of
> Shintoism mysticisms most notably Gasar or Gasaraki
> rituals? What
> does Gasar or Gasaraki mean? How about kai, kugutsu,
> kugai? The OT
> from Gasaraki is "Message #9". Does this refer to
> the Samurai
> handbook "Haga Kure"? We have seen up to the
> penultimate ep and will
> see the final one soon. Arigato a lot and ja
> mata-Keiman and Kei.
>
>
>