Shinto shrine
A Shinto shrine is a structure whose main purpose is to house one or more kami, the deities of the Shinto religion.
The main hall is where a shrine's patron kami is or are enshrined. The honden may be absent in cases where a shrine stands on or near a sacred mountain, tree, or other object which can be worshipped directly or in cases where a shrine possesses either an altar-like structure, called a himorogi, or an object believed to be capable of attracting spirits, called a yorishiro, which can also serve as direct bonds to a kami. There may be a hall of worship and other structures as well.
Although only one word is used in English, in Japanese, Shinto shrines may carry any one of many different, non-equivalent names like gongen, -gū, jinja, jingū, mori, myōjin, -sha, taisha, ubusuna, or yashiro. Miniature shrines can occasionally be found on roadsides. Large shrines sometimes have on their precincts miniature shrines, or. Mikoshi, the palanquins which are carried on poles during festivals, also enshrine kami and are therefore considered shrines.
In 927 CE, the Engi-shiki was promulgated. This work listed all of the 2,861 Shinto shrines existing at the time, and the 3,131 official-recognized and enshrined kami. In 1972, the Agency for Cultural Affairs placed the number of shrines at 79,467, mostly affiliated with the Association of Shinto Shrines. Some shrines, such as the Yasukuni Shrine, are totally independent of any outside authority. The number of Shinto shrines in Japan is estimated to be around 100,000.
Since ancient times, the families dominated Shinto shrines through hereditary positions, and at some shrines the hereditary succession continues to present day.
The Unicode character representing a Shinto shrine is.
Etymology
is the most general word for a Shinto shrine. Any place that has a is a jinja. The word jinja used to have two more readings, kamu-tsu-yashiro and mori, both of which are kun'yomi readings and mean 'kami grove'. Both of these older readings can be found, for example, in the Man'yōshū., the second character in by itself, was not initially a secular term. Historically, in Chinese, it could refer to a Tudigong or 'soil god', a kind of tutelary deity seen as subordinate to the City Gods. Such deities are also often called p=shèshén or p=shénshè. The kun'yomi reading of sha, yashiro, is a generic term for a Shinto shrine, much like jinja. Sha or, occasionally, ja can also be used as a suffix, as in Shinmei-sha or Tenjin-ja. As a suffix, this indicates a minor shrine that has received a kami from a more important shrine through the kanjō process.
are places where kami are present. These places can therefore be shrines and, in fact, 神社, 社 and 杜 can all be read as mori. This reading reflects the fact that the first shrines were simply sacred groves or forests where kami were present.
Hokora or are extremely small shrines like the ones that can be found, for example, along country roads. The term, believed to have been one of the first words for a Shinto shrine, evolved from the word. This fact seems to indicate that the first shrines were huts built to house yorishiro.
indicates a shrine enshrining an imperial prince. However, there are many instances where it is used simply as a tradition. The word, often found at the end of shrine names such as Hachimangū, Tenmangū, or List of Jingū, comes from the Chinese word p=gong, meaning 'a palace or a temple to a high deity'.
A is a shrine of particularly high status that has a deep relationship with the Imperial household or enshrines an Emperor. This is the case for, both, Ise Jingū and Meiji Jingū. Jingū alone, however, only refers to Ise Jingū, whose official name is just that. It is a formulation close to, with the character being replaced with to emphasize its high rank.
, the kun'yomi reading of -gū, indicates a shrine that is enshrining a special kami or a member of the Imperial household like the Empress. However, there are many examples, much like with -gū, in which it is used simply as a tradition. During the period of state regulation, many shrines changed the -miya in their names to jinja.
A taisha or is a shrine that was classified as such under the old system of shrine ranking, the, which was abolished in 1946. Many shrines carrying that shōgō or 'title' adopted it only after the war.
A is a shrine housing a tutelary kami that protects a given area, village, building, or Buddhist temple. The word chinjusha comes from the words and.
is a combination of two words: and. They are also called.
During the Japanese Middle Ages, shrines started being called, a term of Buddhist origin. For example, in Eastern Japan, there are still many Hakusan shrines where the shrine itself is called gongen. Because it represents the application of Buddhist terminology to Shinto kami, its use was legally abolished by the Meiji government with the Shinbutsu bunri, and shrines began to be called jinja.
History
Early origins
Ancestors are kami to be worshipped. Yayoi period village councils sought the advice of ancestors and other kami, and developed instruments,, to evoke them. These were conceived to attract the kami and allow them physical space, thus making kami accessible to human beings.Village council sessions were held in quiet spots in the mountains or in forests near great trees or other natural objects that served as yorishiro. These sacred places and their yorishiro gradually evolved into today's shrines, whose origins can be still seen in the Japanese words for "mountain" and "forest", which can also mean "shrine". Many shrines have on their grounds one of the original great yorishiro: a big tree, surrounded by a sacred rope called a.
The first buildings at places dedicated to worship were hut-like structures built to house some yorishiro. A trace of this origin can be found in the term, which evolved into hokora and is considered to be one of the first words for shrine.
First temporary shrines
True shrines arose with the beginning of agriculture, when the need arose to attract kami to ensure good harvests. These were, however, just temporary structures built for a particular purpose, a tradition of which's traces can be found in some rituals.Hints of the first shrines can still be found. Ōmiwa Shrine in Nara, for example, contains no sacred images or objects because it is believed to serve the mountain on which it stands—images or objects are therefore unnecessary. For the same reason, it has a worship hall, a, but no place to house the kami, a. Archeology confirms that, during the Yayoi period, the most common, a yorishiro actually housing the enshrined kami, in the earliest shrines were nearby mountain peaks that supplied stream water to the plains where people lived.
Besides Ōmiwa Shrine, another important example is Mount Nantai, a phallus-shaped mountain in Nikko which constitutes Futarasan Shrine's shintai. The name Nantai means 'man's body'. The mountain provides water to the rice paddies below and has the shape of the phallic stone rods found in pre-agricultural Jōmon sites.
First known shrine
The first known Shinto shrine was built in roughly 478.Rites and ceremonies
In 905 CE, Emperor Daigo ordered a compilation of Shinto rites and rules. Previous attempts at codification are known to have taken place, but, neither the Konin nor the Jogan Gishiki survive. Initially under the direction of Fujiwara no Tokihira, the project stalled at his death in April 909. Fujiwara no Tadahira, his brother, took charge and, in 927, the was promulgated in fifty volumes.This, the first formal codification of Shinto rites and Norito to survive, became the basis for all subsequent Shinto liturgical practice and efforts. In addition to the first ten volumes of this fifty volume work, which concerned worship and the Department of Worship, sections in subsequent volumes addressing the Ministry of Ceremonies and the Ministry of the Imperial Household regulated Shinto worship and contained liturgical rites and regulation. In 1970, Felicia Gressitt Brock published a two-volume annotated English language translation of the first ten volumes with an introduction entitled Engi-shiki; procedures of the Engi Era.
Arrival and influence of Buddhism
The arrival of Buddhism in Japan in around the sixth century introduced the concept of a permanent shrine. A great number of Buddhist temples were built next to existing shrines in mixed complexes called to help priesthood deal with local kami, making those shrines permanent. Some time in their evolution, the word, meaning 'palace', came into use, indicating that shrines had, by then, become the imposing structures of today.Once the first permanent shrines were built, Shinto revealed a strong tendency to resist architectural change, a tendency which manifested itself in the so-called, the tradition of rebuilding shrines faithfully at regular intervals, adhering strictly to their original design. This custom is the reason ancient styles have been replicated throughout the centuries to the present day, remaining more or less intact.
Ise Grand Shrine, still rebuilt every 20 years, is its best extant example. In Shinto, it has played a particularly significant role in preserving ancient architectural styles. Izumo Taisha, Sumiyoshi Taisha, and Nishina Shinmei Shrine each represent a different style whose origin is believed to predate Buddhism in Japan. These three styles are known respectively as taisha-zukuri, sumiyoshi-zukuri, and shinmei-zukuri.
Shrines show various influences, particularly that of Buddhism, a cultural import which provided much of Shinto architecture's vocabulary. The, the haiden, the, the tōrō, or 'stone lantern', and the komainu, or 'lion dogs', are all elements borrowed from Buddhism.
''Shinbutsu shūgō'' and the ''jingūji''
Until the Meiji period, shrines as they exist today were rare. With very few exceptions like Ise Grand Shrine and Izumo Taisha, they were just a part of a temple-shrine complex controlled by Buddhist clergy. These complexes were called, places of worship composed of a Buddhist temple and of a shrine dedicated to a local kami.The complexes were born when a temple was erected next to a shrine to help its kami with its karmic problems. At the time, kami were thought to be also subjected to karma, and therefore in need of a salvation only Buddhism could provide. Having first appeared during the Nara period, the jingū-ji remained common for over a millennium until, with few exceptions, they were destroyed in compliance with the new policies of the Meiji administration in 1868.