Tsubaki Shrine

　　Could religion exist without any religious scripture? Could religion come to the world without any guru or founder of the sect? Buddhism has the Buddha. Likewise Christianity has Jesus Christ and the Muslim faith has Muhammad. However, Shinto, Japan's original what you call religion doesn't have any guru or any scripture. So I often wonder if Shinto could be called a "religion".
　　Anyway, there are lots of Shinto shrines in my hometown. Probably more than 50, including small ones, though I don't know the exact number. One of the best known in my hometown is Tsubaki shrine. Today the weather was clear and I took my parents to this shrine, for they wanted to get some charms for their two granddaughters, who would take exams for each university.
　　Around the approach to the main hall, several people were preparing for the soon-coming shrine festival. It has been said that spring will come after the Tsubaki shrine festival. I thought that spring is just around the corner in my hometown.

(Vocabulary)
religious scripture 経典
guru, founder of a sect 教祖