Shinto shrines (神社, jinja) ４（Four） Differences Between Japanese Temples and Shrines

2020/09/23 18:36

Shinto shrines (神社, jinja)

Shinto shrines (神社, jinja) are places of worship and the dwellings of the kami, the Shinto "gods". Sacred objects of worship that represent the kami are stored in the innermost chamber of the shrine where they cannot be seen by anybody.

People visit shrines in order to pay respect to the kami or to pray for good fortune. Shrines are also visited during special events such as New Year, setsubun, shichigosan and other festivals.
New born babies are traditionally brought to a shrine a few weeks after birth, and many couples hold their wedding ceremonies there.

setsubun（節分）

shichigosan（七五三）

The following structures and objects can be typically found at a shrine:

Torii

One or more torii gates mark the approach and entrance to a shrine. They come in various colors and are made of various materials. Most torii, however are made of wood, and many are painted orange and black.

Komainu

Komainu are a pair of guardian dogs or lions, often found on each side of a shrine's entrance. In the case of Inari Shrines, they are foxes (see picture) rather than dogs.

Purification trough

Found near the entrance, the water of these fountains is used for purification. You are supposed to clean your hands and mouth before approaching the main hall (more details).

Main and offering hall

Depending on the shrine's architecture style, the main hall (honden) and offering hall (haiden) are two separate buildings or combined into one building. The main hall's innermost chamber contains the shrine's sacred object, while visitors make their prayers and offerings at the offering hall (more details).

Stage

Stages for kagura dance or noh theater performances can be found at some shrines.

Ema

Shrine visitors write their wishes on these wooden plates and then leave them at the shrine in the hope that their wishes come true. Most people wish for good health, success in business, passing entrance exams, love or wealth.

Omikuji

Omikuji are fortune telling paper slips found at many shrines and temples. Randomly drawn, they contain predictions ranging from daikichi ("great good luck") to daikyo ("great bad luck"). By tying the piece of paper around a tree's branch, bad fortune can be left behind.

Shimenawa

A shimenawa is a straw rope with white zigzag paper strips (shide). It marks the boundary to something sacred and can be found on torii gates, around sacred trees and stones, etc. A rope similar to the shimenawa is also worn by yokozuna, the highest ranked sumo wrestlers, during ritual ceremonies.

There can be a variety of additional buildings such as the priest's house and office, a storehouse for mikoshi and other auxiliary buildings. Cemeteries, on the other hand, are almost never found at shrines, because death is considered a cause of impurity in Shinto, and in Japan is dealt with mostly by Buddhism.

The architecture and features of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples have melted together over the centuries. There are several construction styles, most of which show (Buddhist) influences from the Asian mainland. Only a few of today's shrines are considered to be built in a purely Japanese style. Among them are Shinto's most important shrines, the Ise Shrines.

the Ise Shrines

Tens of thousands of shrines

There are tens of thousands of shrines across Japan, some of which can be categorized into a few major groups of shrines. Some of these groups are:

Imperial Shrines

These are the shrines which were directly funded and administered by the government during the era of State Shinto. They include many of Shinto's most important shrines such as the Ise Shrines, Izumo Shrine and Atsuta Shrine, and a number of shrines newly built during the Meiji Period, such as Tokyo's Meiji Shrine and Kyoto's Heian Shrine. Imperial shrines can be recognized by the imperial family's chrysanthemum crest and by the fact that they are often called "jingu" rather than "jinja".

Izumo Shrine

Atsuta Shrine

Tokyo's Meiji Shrine

Kyoto's Heian Shrine

Inari Shrines

Inari Shrines are dedicated to Inari, the kami of rice. They can be recognized by fox statues, as the fox is considered the messenger of Inari. There are thousands of Inari Shrines across Japan, among which Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine is most famous.

Hachiman Shrines

Hachiman Shrines are dedicated to Hachiman, the kami of war, which used to be particularly popular among the leading military clans of the past. Of Japan's thousands of Hachiman Shrines, the most famous is probably Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, while their head shrine is Usa Shrine on Kyushu.

Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

Tenjin Shrines

Tenjin Shrines are dedicated to the kami of Sugawara Michizane, a Heian Period scholar and politician. They are particularly popular among students preparing for entrance exams. Tenjin Shrines can be recognized by ox statues and plum trees, Michizane's favorite trees. The first and most famous Tenjin Shrine is Dazaifu Tenmangu near Fukuoka.

Sugawara Michizane

Dazaifu Tenmangu

Sengen Shrines

Sengen Shrines are dedicated to Princess Konohanasakuya, the Shinto deity of Mount Fuji. More than one thousand Sengen Shrines exist across Japan, with the head shrines standing at the foot and the summit of Mount Fuji itself.

Princess Konohanasakuya

Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine

Shrines dedicated to the founders of powerful clans

Some powerful clans in Japanese history established and dedicated shrines to the their clans' founders. The most famous example are the several dozens of Toshogu Shrines dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, including the famous Toshogu Shrine at Nikko.

Nikko Toshogu Shrine

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Another example is Kanazawa's Oyama Shrine which is dedicated to Maeda Toshiie, the founder of the powerful, local Maeda clan.

Kanazawa's Oyama Shrine

Maeda Toshiie

Local Shrines

Many shrines are dedicated to local kami without association to other shrines.

４（Four） Differences Between Japanese Temples and Shrines

Japan is home to countless shrines and temples. In just the city of Kyoto alone the estimated combined total for shrines was 800, and total for temples was1700.

There are about 88,000 shrines and about 77,000 temples all over Japan.

What's more, Shinto and Buddhism are syncretized in Japan (Shinbutsu-shūgō); therefore it's not uncommon to find temples inside shrines and visa versa.

Shinbutsu-shūgō (神仏習合, "syncretism of kami and buddhas"), also called Shinbutsu-konkō (神仏混淆, "jumbling up" or "contamination of kami and buddhas"), is the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism that was Japan's only organized religion up until the Meiji period.

Beginning in 1868, the new Meiji government approved a series of laws that separated Japanese native kami worship, on one side, from Buddhism which had assimilated it, on the other.

So how can you tell a shrine from a temple?

While there are exceptions to every rule, below are four ways in which temples and shrines typically differ from each other.

１）Nomenclature

Jinja (神社) is the Japanese word for a Shinto shrine and otera (お寺) the one indicating a Buddhist temple. As such, names like Yasaka-jinja literally mean Yasaka Shrine. Taisha (大社) is also used to mean "grand shrine" as in Fushimi Inari Taisha. Lastly, jingu (神宮) is also used as in Meiji-jingu.

Jinja (神社)

otera (お寺)

Fushimi Inari Taisha(伏見稲荷大社大社)

Meiji-jingu（明治神宮）

The pronunciation for temple changes a bit once it moves around to the end of the temple’s name. In some cases, the pronunciation changes to dera as in Kiyomizu-dera. In others, it becomes ji as in Kinkaku-ji. Lastly, in (院) also indicates a temple as we see with Byodo-in.

Kiyomizu-dera（清水寺）

Byodo-in（平等院）

２）The Gates

Torii

Along with Mt. Fuji, geisha, and perhaps sushi, the torii (鳥居) of shrines have become a symbol of Japan abroad. You often see these along the sando (参道), or the path leading up to a shrine. However, the familiar vermilion gates made of wood known as myojin torii (明神鳥居) are actually just one of more than fifteen styles that differ in areas like shape, material, and color.

torii (鳥居)　and sando (参道)

Sanmon

One of the gates of a Buddhist temple is called the sanmon (三門). Depending on the temple, san may be written using the kanji for mountain (山) or the one for the number three (三). The first way comes from the fact that temples (and consequently their gates) were once typically built in the mountains.

sanmon (三門)

The second reading comes from the fact that the gate has three entrances. Each one is thought to represent one of the three aspects of Buddhist training needed to attain enlightenment: emptiness (mu; 空), formlessness (muso; 無相), no-action (musaku; 無作).

For this reason, the sanmon may also be called the sangedatsumon (三解脱門), or the gate of the three liberations.

３）The Guardians

Komainu

You’ll often find a pair of komainu (狛犬) lion-dogs between the torii and the haiden (拝殿) or front shrine. It’s the job of these mythical protector-beasts to drive away demons.

One komainu has its mouth open and the other has it shut. This represents the concept of the beginning and the end of all things or the universe. This concept is often expressed as alpha and omega in western cultures.

In Japanese, this concept is called aun (阿吽). The open-mouthed komainu is a; the closed is un. Some shrines like Fushimi Inari may have foxes in place of komainu while others may have mice.

Fox / Fushimi Inari

mouse

Nio

Known collectively as nio (仁王) or kongourikishi (金剛力士), many temples have a pair of these fearsome-looking deities sitting on either side of the gate to keep out distrustful enemies. Like their komainu counterparts, these statues are also often depicted in a mouth-open, mouth-closed pair to represent aun.

nio (仁王)

kongourikishi (金剛力士)

Many temples have a pair of nio (仁王) or kongourikishi (金剛力士),sitting on either side of the gate.

４）Objects of Worship

Nature, mirrors, etc.

In Shinto, it is thought that kami or gods reside in all things. Furthermore, objects like mountains, forests, impressive trees, unusual rocks, and other objects and places in nature are thought to have especially strong spiritual qualities and become objects of worship.

This is sometimes indicated by a thick rope called a shimenawa (しめ縄).

Mirrors may also be objects of worship. In particular, there is said to be a sacred mirror called Yata no Kagami (八咫鏡), one of the three sacred treasures of Japan (sanshu no jingi; 三種の神器), enshrined at Ise Jingu Shrine in Mie Prefecture.

Yata no Kagami (八咫鏡) is a sacred mirror that is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan. It is said to be housed in Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture, Japan, although a lack of public access makes this difficult to verify. The Yata no Kagami represents "wisdom" or "honesty," depending on the source.

Its name literally means "The Eight Ta Mirror," a reference to its size and octagonal shape. Mirrors in ancient Japan represented truth because they merely reflected what was shown, and were a source of much mystique and reverence (being uncommon items). Japanese folklore is rich in stories of life before mirrors were commonplace.

In Shinto, the mirror was forged by the deity Ishikoridome; both it and the Yasakani no magatama were hung from a tree to lure out Amaterasu from a cave.

They were given to Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, when he went to pacify Japan along with the sword Kusanagi. From there, the treasures passed into the hands of the Imperial House of Japan.