Product Code Database
A extra=archaic: shinsha, meaning: 'kami shrine'Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, the deities of the Shinto religion.
The hondenAlso called the shinden. is where a shrine's patron kami is or are enshrined.Iwanami 広辞苑 Japanese dictionary 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.Mori Mizue There may be a haiden 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 gongen, -gū, jinja, jingū, mori, myōjin, -sha, taisha, ubusuna, or yashiro. Miniature shrines (hokora) can occasionally be found on roadsides. Large shrines sometimes have on their precincts miniature shrines, sessha or massha. Because the sessha and massha once had different meanings but are now synonyms, these shrines are sometimes called setsumatsusha, a neologism that fuses the two old names. mikoshi, the palanquins which are carried on poles during festivals (matsuri), also enshrine kami and are therefore considered shrines.
In 927 Common Era, 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 kami."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 神社本庁. 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 Shake 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 .
Sha, the second character in jinja 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 out=p or out=p. The kun'yomi reading of sha, yashiro, is a generic term for a Shinto shrine, much like jinja. Sha or, Rendaku, 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 nocat=yes 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 grove]]s or forests where kami were present.
Hokora or hokura are extremely small shrines like the ones that can be found, for example, along country roads. The term hokora, 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. were tools conceived to attract the kami and give them a physical space to occupy, thus making them accessible to human beings.
-gū indicates a shrine enshrining an imperial prince. However, there are many instances where it is used simply as a tradition. The word gū, often found at the end of shrine names such as Hachimangū, Tenmangū, or 神宮, comes from the Chinese word out=p, meaning 'a palace or a temple to a high deity'.
A jingū 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 jinja, with the character sha being replaced with gū to emphasize its high rank.
Miya, 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 shakaku, 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 .
Setsumatsusha is a combination of two words: and .Iwanami 広辞苑 Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version. They are also called .
During the Japanese Middle Ages, shrines started being called gongen, 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 Shin-butsu Hanzenrei, and shrines began to be called jinja.
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 shimenawa.Many other sacred objects (mirrors, swords, comma-shaped jewels called magatama) were originally yorishiro, and only later became kami by association
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 (written identically) and is considered to be one of the first words for shrine.Today, a hokora is an extremely small shrine, like those seen on the sides of many roads.
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 haiden, but no place to house the kami, a shinden. Archeology confirms that, during the Yayoi period, the most common shintai, 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.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 shintai. The name 男体 means 'man's body'. The mountain provides water to the rice paddies below and has the shape of the phallic symbol stone rods found in pre-agricultural Jōmon sites.
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 Jingi-kan, sections in subsequent volumes addressing the Ministry of Ceremonies (治部省) and the Ministry of the Imperial Household (宮内省) 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.
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 shikinen sengū-sai, 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 rōmon, or 'tower gate', is a gate which looks like a two-story gate, but in fact is only one story. the nocat=yes, the , the nocat=yes, or 'stone lantern', and the komainu, or 'lion dogs', are all elements borrowed from Buddhism.
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 (710–794), 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.
Until the end of Edo period, local kami beliefs and Buddhism were intimately connected in what was called shinbutsu shūgō, up to the point where even the same buildings were used as both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.
After the law, the two would be forcibly separated. This was done in several stages. At first, an order issued by the Jingijimuka in April 1868 ordered the defrocking of shasō and nocat=yes (shrine monks performing Buddhist rites at Shinto shrines).. A few days later, the Daijōkan banned the application of Buddhist terminology such as gongen to Japanese kami and the veneration of Buddhist statues in shrines.
The third stage consisted of the prohibition against applying the Buddhist term Daibosatsu (Great Bodhisattva) to the syncretic kami Hachiman at the Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū and Usa Shrine shrines.. In the fourth and final stage, all the defrocked bettō and shasō were told to become "shrine priests" (kannushi) and return to their shrines. Monks of the Nichiren sect were told not to refer to some deities as kami.
After a short period in which it enjoyed popular favor, the process of separation of Buddhas and kami however stalled and is still only partially completed. To this day, almost all Buddhist temples in Japan have a small shrine (chinjusha) dedicated to its Shinto tutelary kami, and vice versa Buddhist figures (e.g. goddess Sarasvati) are revered in Shinto shrines..
The most common shintai are objects like mirrors, swords, jewels (for example comma-shaped stones called magatama), gohei (wands used during religious rites), and sculptures of kami called shinzō, Kami are, as a rule, not represented in Anthropomorphism or physical terms, however numerous paintings and statues representing them have appeared under Buddhist influence. but they can be also natural objects such as rocks, mountains, trees, and waterfalls. Mountains were among the first, and are still among the most important, shintai, and are worshiped at several famous shrines. A mountain believed to house a kami, as for example Mount Fuji or Mount Miwa, is called a shintai-zan.Ono, Woodard (2004:100) In the case of a man-made shintai, a kami must be invited to reside in it.
The founding of a new shrine requires the presence of either a pre-existing, naturally occurring shintai (for example a rock or waterfall housing a local kami), or of an artificial one, which must therefore be procured or made to the purpose. An example of the first case are the Nachi Falls, worshiped at Hiryū Shrine near Kumano Nachi Taisha and believed to be inhabited by a kami called Hiryū Gongen.
The first duty of a shrine is to house and protect its shintai and the kami which inhabits it. If a shrine has more than one building, the one containing the shintai is called the honden; because it is meant for the exclusive use of the kami, it is always closed to the public and is not used for prayer or religious ceremonies. The shintai leaves the honden only during festivals (matsuri), when it is put in portable shrines (mikoshi) and carried around the streets among the faithful. The portable shrine is used to physically protect the shintai and to hide it from sight.
The transfer does not necessarily take place from a shrine to another: the divided spirit's new location can be a privately owned object or an individual's house.Smyers (1999: 156–160) The kanjō process was of fundamental importance in the creation of all of Japan's shrine networks (Inari Shrine, Hachiman Shrine, etc.).
Some of the most well-known shake families include:
Often, the shrines which were most significant historically do not lie in a former center of power like Kyoto, Nara, or Kamakura. For example, Ise Grand Shrine, the Imperial household's family shrine, is in Mie prefecture. Izumo-taisha, one of the oldest and most revered shrines in Japan, is in Shimane Prefecture. This is because their location is that of a traditionally important kami, and not that of temporal institutions.
Some shrines exist only in one locality, while others are at the head of a network of bunsha. The spreading of a kami can be evoked by one or more of several different mechanisms. The typical one is an operation called nocat=yes, a propagation process through which a kami is invited to a new location and there re-enshrined. The new shrine is administered completely independent from the one it originated from.
However, other transfer mechanisms exist. In Ise Grand Shrine's case, for example, its network of Shinmei shrines (from 神明, another name for Amaterasu) grew due to two concurrent causes. During the late Heian period the cult of Amaterasu, worshiped initially only at Ise Grand Shrine, started to spread to the shrine's possessions through the usual kanjō mechanism.
Later, branch shrines started to appear further away. The first evidence of a Shinmei shrine far from Ise is given by the Azuma Kagami, a Kamakura period text which refers to Amanawa Shinmei-gū's appearance in Kamakura, Kanagawa. Amaterasu began to be worshiped in other parts of the country because of the so-called phenomenon, the belief that she would fly to other locations and settle there. Similar mechanisms have been responsible for the spreading around the country of other kami.
Izumo Taisha in Shimane Prefecture is so old that no document about its origin survives, and the year of foundation is unknown. The shrine is the center of a series of and myths. The kami it enshrines, Ōkuninushi, created Japan before it was populated by Amaterasu's offspring, the Emperor's ancestors. Because of its physical remoteness, in historical times Izumo has been eclipsed in fame by other sites, but there is still a widespread belief that in October all Japanese gods meet there. For this reason, October is also known as the one of its names in the old lunar calendar, while at Izumo Taisha alone it is referred to as the Kamiarizuki.Iwanami 広辞苑 Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version
Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of the largest shrine network in Japan, which has more than 32,000 members, about a third of the total. Inari Okami worship started here in the 8th century and has continued ever since, expanding to the rest of the country. Located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, the shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines. Another very large example is the Yūtoku Inari Shrine in Kashima City, Saga Prefecture.
Ōita Prefecture's Usa Shrine, called in Japanese Usa Jingū or Usa Hachiman-gū, is together with Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū, the head of the Hachiman shrine network. Hachiman worship started here at least as far back as the Nara period (710–794). In 860, the kami was divided and brought to Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū in Kyoto, which became the focus of Hachiman worship in the capital. Located on top of Mount Otokoyama, Usa Hachiman-gū is dedicated to Emperor Ōjin, his mother Empress Jingū, and female kami Hime no Okami.
Itsukushima Shrine is, together with Munakata Taisha, at the head of the Munakata shrine network. Remembered for its torii raising from the waters, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The shrine is dedicated to the three daughters of Susanoo, kami of seas and storms and brother of the great sun kami.
Kasuga Taisha is a Shinto shrine in the city of Nara, in Nara Prefecture, Japan. Established in 768 AD and rebuilt several times over the centuries, it is the shrine of the Fujiwara family. The interior is noted for its many bronze lanterns, as well as the many stone lanterns that lead up the shrine. The architectural style kasuga-zukuri takes its name from Kasuga Taisha's honden.
The Kumano Sanzan shrine complex, head of the Kumano shrine network, includes Kumano Hayatama Taisha (Wakayama Prefecture, Shingu), Kumano Hongu Taisha (Wakayama Prefecture, Tanabe), and Kumano Nachi Taisha (Wakayama Prefecture, Nachikatsuura). The shrines lie between one from the other. They are connected by the pilgrimage route known as 熊野参詣道. The great Kumano Sanzan complex also includes two Buddhist temples, Seiganto-ji and Fudarakusan-ji.The presence of Buddhist temples within a Shinto shrine complex is due to an integration of Buddhism and Shinto (nocat=yes) which used to be normal before the Meiji restoration and is still common. The kami which inhabits the Nachi Falls within the Kumano Sanzan shrine complex, the already mentioned Hiryū Gongen, is itself syncretism. Sacred site "Kumano Sanzan" accessed on June 12, 2008
The religious significance of the Kumano region goes back to prehistoric times and predates all modern religions in Japan. The area was, and still is, considered a place of physical healing.
Yasukuni shrine, in Tokyo, is dedicated to the soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan.
San Marino Shrine in Serravalle, San Marino, is the first Shinto shrine in Europe.
| 32,000 | Fushimi Inari Taisha (Kyoto) | ||
| Hachiman Shrine | 25,000 | Usa Hachiman-gū (Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu), Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū (Kyoto) | |
| Shinmei shrines | 18,000 | Ise Jingū (Mie prefecture) | |
| 10,500 | Kitano Tenman-gū (Kyoto), Dazaifu Tenman-gū (Fukuoka prefecture, Kyushu) | ||
| Munakata shrines | 8,500 | Munakata Taisha (Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu), Itsukushima Shrine (Hiroshima) | |
| Suwa shrines | 5,000 | Suwa Taisha (Nagano prefecture) | |
| Hiyoshi shrines | 4,000 | Hiyoshi Taisha (Shiga prefecture) | |
| Kumano Shrine | 3,000 | Kumano Nachi Taisha (Wakayama prefecture) | |
| Gion shrines | Tsushima shrines | 3,000 | Tsushima Shrine (Aichi prefecture) |
| Yasaka shrines | 3,000 | Yasaka Shrine (Kyoto) | |
| Shirayamahime shrines | 2717 | Shirayamahime jinja | |
| Atsuta Shrines | 2000 | Atsuta Shrine | |
| Matsunoo Shrines | 1114 | Matsunoo Taisha | |
| Kashima Shrines | 918 | Kashima Shrine | |
| Akiha Shrines | 800 | Akihasan Hongū Akiha Shrine | |
| Kotohira Shrines | 683 | Kotohira-gū | |
| Katori Shrines | 477 | Katori Shrine | |
| Hikawa Shrines | 287 | Hikawa jinja | |
| Kibune Shrines | 260 | Kifune Shrine | |
| Taga shrines | 229 | Taga taisha | |
The next ten largest networks contain between 2,000 branches down to about 200 branches, and include the networks headed by Matsunoo-taisha, Kibune Shrine, and Taga-taisha, among others.
The entrance to an Inari shrine is usually marked by one or more vermilion torii and two Kitsune. This red color has come to be identified with Inari because of the prevalence of its use among Inari shrines and their torii.Smyers (1999:60, 177) The kitsune statues are at times mistakenly believed to be a form assumed by Inari, and they typically come in pairs, representing a male and a female, although sex is usually not obvious.Smyers (1999:93) These fox statues hold a symbolic item in their mouths or beneath a front paw—most often a jewel and a key, but a sheaf of rice, a scroll, or a fox cub are common. Almost all Inari shrines, no matter how small, will feature at least a pair of these statues, usually flanking, on the altar, or in front of the main sanctuary.
Because as Emperor Ōjin he was an ancestor of the Minamoto clan, Hachiman became the of the Minamoto samurai clan of Kawachi (Osaka). After Minamoto no Yoritomo became nocat=yes and established the Kamakura shogunate, Hachiman's popularity grew, and he became by extension the protector of the warrior class the shōgun had brought to power. For this reason, the shintai of a Hachiman shrine is usually a stirrup or a bow.
During the Medieval Japan, Hachiman worship spread throughout Japan among samurai and the peasantry. There are 25,000 shrines in Japan dedicated to him, the second most numerous after those of the Inari network. Usa Hachiman-gū is the network's head shrine together with Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū. However, Hakozaki Shrine and Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū are historically no less significant shrines and are more popular.
The general blueprint of a Shinto shrine is Buddhist in origin. The presence of verandas, stone lanterns, and elaborate gates is an example of this influence. The composition of a Shinto shrine is extremely variable, and none of its many possible features is necessarily present. Even the honden can be missing if the shrine worships a nearby natural shintai.
Since its grounds are sacred, they are usually surrounded by a fence made of stone or wood called tamagaki. Access is made possible by an approach called sandō. The entrances are straddled by gates called torii, which are usually the simplest way to identify a Shinto shrine.
A shrine may include within its grounds several structures, each built for a different purpose. Among them are the honden or sanctuaries, where the kami are enshrined, the nocat=yes or hall of offerings, where offers and prayers are presented, and the haiden or hall of worship, where there may be seats for worshippers. The honden is the building that contains the shintai, literally, 'the sacred body of the kami'.
Of these, only the haiden is open to the laity. The honden is usually located behind the haiden and is often much smaller and unadorned. Other notable shrine features are the temizuya, the fountain where visitors cleanse their hands and mouth, and the shamusho, the office which oversees the shrine. Buildings are often adorned by chigi and katsuogi, variously oriented poles which protrude from their roof.
Before the Meiji Restoration it was common for a Buddhist temple to be built inside or next to a shrine, or vice versa.See the Shinbutsu shūgō article. If a shrine housed a Buddhist temple, it was called a jingūji. Analogously, temples all over Japan adopted chinju and built jisha to house them.Mark Teeuwen in Breen and Teeuwen (2000:95-96) After the forcible separation of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines (shinbutsu bunri) ordered by the new government in the Meiji period, the connection between the two religions was officially severed, but continued nonetheless in practice and is still visible today.
The hondens roof is always gabled, and some styles have a veranda-like aisle called nocat=yes (a 1-nocat=yes wide corridor surrounding one or more sides of the core of a shrine or temple). Among the factors involved in the classification, important are the presence or absence of:
Proportions are important. A building of a given style often must have certain proportions measured in ken (the distance between pillars, a quantity variable from one shrine to another or even within the same shrine).
The oldest styles are the tsumairi shinmei-zukuri, taisha-zukuri, and sumiyoshi-zukuri, believed to predate the arrival of Buddhism.
The two most common are the hirairi nagare-zukuri and the tsumairi kasuga-zukuri. History and Typology of Shrine Architecture, Encyclopedia of Shinto accessed on November 29, 2009 Larger, more important shrines tend to have unique styles.
This is the feature which gives the style its name, the most common among shrines all over Japan. Sometimes the basic layout consisting of an elevated moya partially surrounded by a veranda called hisashi (all under the same roof) is modified by the addition of a room in front of the entrance.
The honden varies in roof ridge length from 1 to 11 ken, but is never 6 or 8 ken.JAANUS, Nagare-zukuri, accessed on December 1, 2009 The most common sizes are 1 and 3 ken. The oldest shrine in Japan, Uji's Ujigami Shrine, has a honden of this type. Its external dimensions are 5×3 ken, but internally it is composed of three naiden measuring 1 ken each.
After the Nagare-zukuri, this is the most common style, with most instances in the Kansai region around Nara.
The style is supposed to have its origin in old palace architecture. Another example of this style is Sumiyoshi Jinja, part of the Sumiyoshi Sanjin complex in Fukuoka Prefecture. In both cases, as in many others, there is no veranda.
The honden normally has a 2×2 ken footprint ( in Izumo Taisha's case), with an entrance on the gabled end. The stairs to the honden are covered by a cypress bark roof. The oldest extant example of the style is Kamosu Jinja's honden in Shimane Prefecture, built in the 16th century.
They usually enshrined a local tutelary kami, so they were called with the name of the kami followed by terms like gongen; ubusuna, short for ubusuna no kami, or guardian deity of one's birthplace; or myōjin. The term jinja, now the most common, was rare. Examples of this kind of pre-Meiji use are Tokusō Daigongen and Kanda Shrine.
Today, the term "Shinto shrine" in English is used in opposition to "Buddhist temple" to mirror in English the distinction made in Japanese between Shinto and Buddhist religious structures. This single English word translates several non-equivalent Japanese words, including jinja as in Yasukuni Jinja; yashiro as in Tsubaki Ōkami Yashiro; miya as in Watarai no Miya; -gū as in Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū; jingū as in Meiji Shrine; taisha as in Izumo Taisha;The History of Shrines mori; and hokora or hokura.
Shrine names are descriptive. A problem in dealing with them is understanding exactly what they mean. Although there is a lot of variation in their composition, it is usually possible to identify in them two parts. The first is the shrine's name proper, or meishō, the second is the so-called shōgō, or 'title'.Shinto Online Network Association Jinja no Shōgō ni Tsuite Oshiete Kudasai
Very often the meishō will be the name of the kami enshrined. An Inari Shrine for example is a shrine dedicated to kami Inari. Analogously, a Kumano Shrine is a shrine that enshrines the three Kumano mountains. A Hachiman Shrine enshrines kami Hachiman. Tokyo's Meiji Shrine enshrines the Meiji Emperor. The name can also have other origins, often unknown or unclear.
These names are not equivalent in terms of prestige: a taisha is more prestigious than a -gū, which is more important than a jinja.
There are rare exceptions to this system. For example, at Usa Jingū and Izumo-taisha, it is correct etiquette to clap four times in front of the offering box rather than the usual twice. "Usa Jingu - About Worship" retrieved May 31 2024. "Izumo-Taisha - Frequently Asked Questions" retrieved May 31 2024.
|
|
