In Shinto, , or when the honorific

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. Prefixes, like other affixes, can b ...

''go''- is used, are physical objects worshipped at or near

Shinto shrine A 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 Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

s as repositories in which spirits or ''

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'' reside.''Shintai'', Encyclopedia of Shinto ''Shintai'' used in Shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto) can be also called . In spite of what their name may suggest, ''shintai'' are not themselves part of ''kami'', but rather just temporary repositories which make them accessible to human beings for worship. ''Shintai'' are also of necessity ''

yorishiro A in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called , thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. are used during ceremonies to call the for worship. The word itself literally means "approach ...

'', that is objects by their very nature capable of attracting ''kami''.

Description

The most common ''shintai'' are man-made objects like mirrors, swords, jewels (for example comma-shaped stones called ''

magatama are curved, comma-shaped beads that appeared in prehistoric Japan from the Jōmon period, Final Jōmon period through the Kofun period, approximately 1000 BCE to the 6th century CE. The beads, also described as jewels, were made of stone and e ...

)'', ''

gohei , , or are wooden wands, decorated with two (zigzagging paper streamers) used in Shinto rituals. It may be considered an Ōnusa with only two Shide. The streamers are usually white, although they can also be gold, silver, jade, or a mixture of ...

'' (wands used during religious rites), and sculptures of ''kami'' called , but they can be also natural objects such as rocks (), mountains (), trees (), and

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s (). Before the forcible separation of ''kami'' and Buddhas of 1868 (''

shinbutsu bunri The Japanese term indicates the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration which separated Shinto ''kami'' from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated. It is a ...

'') a ''shintai'' could even be the statue of a Buddhist deity. Other ''shintai'' include the mirror

Yata no Kagami is a sacred bronze mirror that is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Name and significance The represents "wisdom" or "honesty," depending on the source. Its name literally means "The Eight Mirror," a reference to its size. Mirrors in ...

(one of the

Imperial Regalia of Japan The are the imperial regalia of Japan and consist of the sword , the mirror , and the jewel . They represent the three primary virtues: valour (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and benevolence (the jewel).

Mount Miwa or is a mountain located in the city of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It has been an important religious and historical mountain in Japan, especially during its early history, and serves as a holy site in Shinto. The entire mountain is co ...

Mount Nantai is a stratovolcano in the Nikkō National Park in Tochigi Prefecture, in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The mountain is high. A prominent landmark, it can be seen on clear days from as far as Saitama, a city away. Alongside ...

, the Nachi Falls, and the

Meoto Iwa , or Married Couple Rocks, are a kind of rock formation seen as religiously significant in Shinto. They are a subtype of Iwakura rock. According to Shinto, the rocks represent the union of the creator ''kami'', Izanagi and Izanami. The rocks, ...

rocks. Many mountains like

or the Three Mountains of Kumano (Kumano sanzan) are considered ''shintai'' and are therefore called .Ono, Woodard (2004:100) The most widely known and renowned ''shintai'' is

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...

. An example of a in a

Japanese new religion Japanese new religions are new religious movements established in Japan. In Japanese, they are called or . Japanese scholars classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as "new religions"; thus, the term refe ...

is in

Ayabe, Kyoto is a Cities of Japan, city located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,082 in 13,660 households and a population density of 90 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Ayabe is situated in th ...

, which is sacred to the

Oomoto file:Chouseiden.jpg, 200px, ''Chōseiden'' (長生殿) in Ayabe, Kyoto, Ayabe , also known as , is a religion founded in the 1890s by Nao Deguchi, Deguchi Nao (1836–1918) and Onisaburo Deguchi, Deguchi Onisaburō (1871–1948). Oomoto is typ ...

religion. Mount Hongu is located on the grounds of Baishō-en (梅松苑), which was declared by its founders

Nao Deguchi Nao Deguchi (January 22, 1837 – November 16, 1918) was a Japanese religious leader who founded the Oomoto religion together with Onisaburo Deguchi. The origins of Oomoto began when she was possessed by a spirit called Ushitora no Konjin in ...

and

Onisaburo Deguchi , born Kisaburō Ueda 上田喜三郎 (1871–1948) was a Japanese religious leader. Together with his mother-in-law Nao Deguchi, he was one of the two spiritual leaders of the Oomoto religious movement in Japan. While Nao Deguchi is the of ...

to be the spiritual center of Japan around the turn of the 20th century. A ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'', a wrestler at the top of

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

's power pyramid, is a living ''shintai''. For this reason, his waist is circled by a ''

shimenawa are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with —traditional paper streamers. A space bound by t ...

'', a sacred rope which protects sacred objects from evil spirits. A

kannushi , also called , is the common term for a member of the clergy at a responsible for maintaining the shrine and leading worship of the there.* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The chara ...

, that is, a Shinto priest, can become a living ''shintai'' when a

enters his body during religious ceremonies. 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 A , literally "incarnation", was believed to be the manifestation of a buddha in the form of an indigenous kami, an entity who had come to guide the people to salvation, during the era of shinbutsu-shūgō in premodern Japan.Encyclopedia of Shin ...

. In the second, the ''

mitama The Japanese word refers to the spirit of a ''kami'' or the soul of a dead person. It is composed of two characters, the first of which, , is simply an honorific. The second, means "spirit". The character pair 神霊, also read ''mitama'', is ...

'' (spirit) of a ''kami'' is divided in half through a process called '' kanjō'' and one of the halves is then stored in a ''yorishiro''. This is the process which has led to the creation of networks of shrines housing the same ''kami'', as for example the

Hachiman shrine A is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the ''kami'' Hachiman. It is the second most numerous type of Shinto shrine after those dedicated to Inari Ōkami (see Inari shrine). There are about 44,000 Hachiman shrines. Originally the name 八幡 was rea ...

Inari shrine is a type of Japanese shrine used to worship the kami Inari. Inari is a popular deity associated with foxes, rice, household wellbeing, business prosperity, and general prosperity. Inari shrines are typically constructed of white stucco walls wit ...

or Kumano shrine networks. Because over the years the ''shintai'' is wrapped in more and more layers of precious cloth and stored in more and more boxes without being ever inspected, its exact identity may become forgotten. The first role 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 ''

honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

''; 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 A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

(''matsuri''), when it is put in a "divine palanquin" (''

mikoshi A is a sacred religious palanquin (also translated as portable Shinto shrine). Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle to transport a deity in Japan while moving between main shrine and temporary shrine during a festival or when ...

'', a term usually translated in English as "portable shrine"), and carried around the streets among the faithful. The portable shrine is used to physically protect the ''shintai'' and to hide it from sight..

Examples

An example of the importance of a

sacred tree A sacred tree or holy tree is a tree which is considered to be sacred, or worthy of spiritual respect or reverence. Such trees appear throughout world history in various cultures including the ancient Hindu mythology, Greek, Celtic and Germanic m ...

is the 700-year-old

camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel (''Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the kapu ...

growing in the middle of Kayashima Station. Locals protested against moving the tree when the railway station had to be expanded, so the station was built around it.

References

Bibliography

* ''Encyclopedia of Shinto''
Shintai
accessed on September 20, 2009. * * * {{Shinto shrine Shinto Shinto religious objects

Description

Examples

See also

References

Bibliography