Toya Manabu (戸矢学)

Manabu TOYA (1953 -) is a Shintoist, novelist and business enterprise consultant in Japan. He is from Saitama Prefecture. He was graduated from Saitama Prefectural Kumagaya High School and Department of Shinto Studies, Faculty of Letters, Kokugakuin University. He has meikai (the second highest rank of Shinto priest) of Jinja-Honcho (the Association of Shinto Shrines), and is Gonnegi (general staff of a shrine) of Nireyama-jinja Shrine. He is also a chief editor of the Web site for food 'Kangaeru pan' (Thinking Bread).

He studies 'Onmyodo' (way of Yin and Yang; occult divination system based on the Taoist theory of the five elements) from the shintohism perspective, and presented a new point at issue by verifying any connection with obvious phenomena in Japanese history successively. Particularly, he pointed out that thought of Koshinto (as practiced prior to the introduction of Confucianism and Buddhism to Japan) such as 'kiyome' (purification) and 'harae' (purification) was assumed by onmyodo for over a thousand years after Emperor Temmu, then, returned to Shinto after Meiji restoration. He advocated his own theory that religious services for Emperors until now, for example Shihohai (a Shinto ceremony held on New Year's Day in which the Emperor pays respect to the deities in all quarters), are "Contemporary Shinto" which carries on style of onmyodo.

[Original Japanese]