A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more , the deities of the Shinto religion.
The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dictionary The 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 , or an object believed to be capable of attracting spirits, called a , which can also serve as direct bonds to a .Mori Mizue There may be a and other structures as well.
Although only one word ("shrine") is used in English, in Japanese, Shinto shrines may carry any one of many different, non-equivalent names like , , , , , , , , , or . Miniature shrines () can occasionally be found on roadsides. Large shrines sometimes have on their precincts miniature shrines, or . Because the and once had different meanings but are now synonymous, these shrines are sometimes called , a neologism that fuses the two old names. , the palanquins which are carried on poles during festivals (), also enshrine and are therefore considered shrines.
In 927 CE, the was promulgated. This work listed all of the 2,861 Shinto shrines existing at the time, and the 3,131 official-recognized and enshrined ."Engishiki" in Stuart D. B. Pecken, ed., Historical Dictionary of Shinto. Second edition. (Lanham, MD, USA: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2011) p. 92. In 1972, the Agency for Cultural Affairs placed the number of shrines at 79,467, mostly affiliated with the .Japanese Religion: A Survey by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Abe Yoshiya and David Reid, translators. (Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 1972) p. 239. 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.Breen, Teeuwen in Breen, Teeuwen (2000:1)
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 (for example, on maps) is .
Etymology
is the most general word for a Shinto shrine. Any place that has a is a . The word used to have two more readings, and , 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 or . The kun'yomi reading of , , is a generic term for a Shinto shrine, much like . or, occasionally, can also be used as a suffix, as in or . As a suffix, this indicates a minor shrine that has received a from a more important shrine through the process.
are places where are present. These places can therefore be shrines and, in fact, , and can all be read as . This reading reflects the fact that the first shrines were simply sacred groves or forests where were present.
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 . were tools conceived to attract the and give them a physical space to occupy, thus making them accessible to human beings.
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 , comes from the Chinese word , 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. 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 , indicates a shrine that is enshrining a special or a member of the Imperial household like the Empress. However, there are many examples, much like with , in which it is used simply as a tradition. During the period of state regulation, many shrines changed the in their names to .
A 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 or 'title' adopted it only after the war.
A is a shrine housing a tutelary that protects a given area, village, building, or Buddhist temple. The word comes from the words and .
is a combination of two words: and .Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version. 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 . Because it represents the application of Buddhist terminology to Shinto , its use was legally abolished by the Meiji government with the , and shrines began to be called .
History
Early origins
Ancestors are to be worshipped. Yayoi period village councils sought the advice of ancestors and other , and developed instruments, , to evoke them.Tamura, page 21 These were conceived to attract the and allow them physical space, thus making 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 . These sacred places and their 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 : a big tree, surrounded by a sacred rope called a .Many other sacred objects (mirrors, swords, comma-shaped jewels called ) were originally , and only later became by association
The first buildings at places dedicated to worship were hut-like structures built to house some . A trace of this origin can be found in the term , which evolved into (written identically) and is considered to be one of the first words for shrine.Today, a is an extremely small shrine, like those seen on the sides of many roads.
First temporary shrines True shrines arose with the beginning of agriculture, when the need arose to attract to ensure good harvests. These were, however, just temporary structures built for a particular purpose, a tradition whose traces can still be found in rituals such as the otabisho, a temporary resting place set up during a matsuri procession, where the kami's portable palanquin (mikoshi or shin'yo) is housed for a set period, ranging from brief to extended, before returning to its permanent shrine.
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 , a . Archeology confirms that, during the Yayoi period, the most common , a actually housing the enshrined , in the earliest shrines were nearby mountain peaks that supplied stream water to the plains where people lived.Cambridge History of Japan (1993:524)
Besides Ōmiwa Shrine, another important example is Mount Nantai, a phallus-shaped mountain in Nikko which constitutes Futarasan Shrine's . The name 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"Jogan Gishiki" in Stuart D. B. Pecken, ed., Historical Dictionary of Shinto. Second edition. (Lanham, MD, USA: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2011) p. 139. 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,Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Engi-shiki" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 178. the was promulgated in fifty volumes.
This, the first formal codification of Shinto rites and Norito (liturgies and prayers) to survive, became the basis for all subsequent Shinto liturgical practice and efforts." Engishiki" in Stuart D. B. Pecken, ed., Historical Dictionary of Shinto. Second edition. (Lanham, MD, USA: Scarecrow Press, Inv, 2011) p. 92. 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 and the 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.
State Integration State integration of Shinto began in the 7th and 8th centuries during the and early . During this era, indigenous rituals and shrine architecture were formally incorporated into the Japanese governmental hierarchy. During the Ritsuryō period, the was written under the reigns of Emperor Tenmu (672–686) and Empress Jitō (687–697) and was implemented in 701, marking the initial institutionalization of Shinto in Japan and forming one of the first legal codes that structured the religion. This code, along with its many revisions, including the , formed the Ritsuryō System that defined the Ritsuryō period. Under the Ritsuryō system, one of the two major branches of the Japanese government was , or the Department of Divinity. This department defined the structure of shrines and rituals through the Ritsuryō Codes. As part of the Yōrō Code, 19 rituals of 13 categories were established, including the following:
Chinka-sai (hi/ho shizume no matsuri) was a fire prevention rite, established under the Ritsuryō system to prevent fires in imperial palace and other state facilities rather than the prevention of fires in general. It was performed on the last day of the sixth and twelfth months of the lunar calendar within the imperial palace; often in conjunction with . Chinka-sai (hana shizume matsuri) was a sickness prevention rite performed during the third lunar month. It was believed that when blossoms fell in the springtime, would set out and spread illnesses across the nation. Official rites were performed at the Ōmiwa Shrine and Sai Shrine. Similar practices were also performed among the general public. Kinen-sai (Toshigoi no matsuri) was a rite performed on the fourth day of the second lunar month to pray for a good harvest. Unlike the Chinka-sai rites, Kinen-sai was imperially administered nationally and performed at the 3,132 shrines recorded in Jinmyochō. Established in 675 as a rite of the Ritsuryō state, it was largely based on a similar Chinese field-sowing rite. In 798, shrines were categorized as either imperially administered shrines (Jingikan saijin) or provincially endowed shrines (kokushi saiki nenshi). This rite was performed at Jingikan saijin, and while the emperor himself wouldn't participate, it was attended by head officials of Jingikan. Similar to other palace rituals, Kinen-sai died out toward the end of the Muromachi period as a result of military conflict.
Arrival and influence of Buddhism