While chatting with a friend of mine from Texas, he shared a very interesting story that we have a foreign Shinto priest in Japan. I'd believed that Shinto had lots of traditional, strict rules, so foreign people couldn't become priests. When I heard it, I was a bit surprised.

Let me introduce you this foreign Shinto priest. His name is Wiltschko Florian and he was born in Austria, 1987. He first visited Japan with his family at the age of 14. Since then, he's been deeply interested in Japanese culture. He majored in Japanese language in University of Vienna. After graduation, he studied abroad in Japan to keep studying Shinto. Eventually, he ended up being a very first foreign Shinto priest in Japan.

My friend asked me what I thought about having a foreign priest. I think his case is very unique, and I rather appreciate him to have such passion for Shintoism. We often focus only on the results, but it's important to look at the path he took. He was born outside Japan. He first didn't know any Japanese culture or tradition. Even though he studied about these, learning and actually experiencing are two very different things. I'm sure being a priest must be very hard for him. He sometimes might think giving up on his dream.

My friend shared a video clip about him, and I watched it. I heard him speaking Japanese. If I hadn't seen the video and just listen to his voice, I probably wouldn't have recognized a foreign person speaking Japanese. I was truly inspired by his fluency and his deep understanding of Shinto.

I read some articles about him, and one article said that he met Shintoism at the age of four. He became curious about a pair of wooden shoes worn by a Shinto priest. He researched them and wanted to know more. When he was 14 years old, there was a kamidana (household Shinto altar) in his house. He kept exploring Shintoism and every time discovering something new related to Shinto, he wanted to know and learn more.

I'm happy to have such a Shinto priest because he seems even more Japanese than we are. I'm glad that he could make his dream come true. I'm also grateful that the Shinto community in Japan opened its door to him. His story reminded me of my favorite saying: "Where there is a will, there is a way".

If you want to know more about him, you can read some articles here and here. You can watch the video here.

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