{"id":510095,"date":"2019-05-29T10:36:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T01:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/?p=510095"},"modified":"2019-06-01T16:01:42","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T07:01:42","slug":"a-japanese-shinto-shrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/usefull-info\/a-japanese-shinto-shrine\/","title":{"rendered":"A Japanese Shinto Shrine"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Japanese Shinto means a \u201cplace of the gods\u201d or \u201cthe way of the deities\u201d, a Shinto Shrine (Jinga<\/strong><\/em>) is considered a place of worship and the dwellings of a divine spirit (kami<\/strong><\/em>); they inhabit the inner most chamber of the shrine where rituals and acts of worship are performed. Conversely Buddhist temples are knows as O\u2019tera<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Shrines are either visited to pay respect to the kami, shinto gods, or to pray for good fortune. The shrines first arose with the beginning of agriculture to attract kami to ensure good harvest. Today they are also visited during special events i.e. New Year, Setsubun, Shichigosan, birthdays, weddings, new births and other festivals.<\/p>\n

The origins of the Shinto religion evolved out of the worship of unique natural phenomena, ancestors and various kinds of spiritual gods. When Buddhism was imported from China, Shinto took on it\u2019s name to help distinguish it from the newly introduced religion. It remains an integral part of Japanese life, as it focuses on the positive beliefs, purity and hopeful wishes; making it accessible to anyone.<\/p>\n

In Japan there are approximately 80,000 Shrines, some of which date back nearly 2000 years. Each shrine is dedicated to a particular Kami (god or spirit). The most popular is Hachiman with nearly 8000 around the country. Hachiman is revered as the Kami or warriors and the community.<\/p>\n

Characteristics of a Japanese Shrine<\/font><\/strong>
\n\u2022 Jinga<\/strong><\/em> are enclosed sacred areas taking the form of a compound.
\n\u2022 The entrance will usually have a large torii<\/strong><\/em> gate. A most distinguishable element of a Shinto Shrine. It denotes the boundary between the sacred world within. Tradition dictates that once passing under the gate one must be quiet and behave in a reverent manner.
\n\u2022 Behind the gate is the Worship Hall (haiden<\/strong><\/em>).
\n\u2022 Near the haiden is a basin known as a Chozuya<\/strong><\/em> for rinsing the hands and purification before entering the sanctuary.
\n\u2022 Further on from the haiden is the Main Sanctuary (honden<\/strong><\/em>).
\n\u2022 In front of the honden<\/strong><\/em> is a Wooden Box (saisen-bako<\/strong><\/em>) where money is thrown into as a donation by visitors and worshippers.
\n\u2022 The honden<\/strong><\/em> contains a sacred artefact inside where the deity\u2019s spirit is thought to reside.
\n\u2022 A heavy rope before the box is pulled by worshippers to ring the Bell suzu<\/strong><\/em>. To make his \/ her attention known the god kami.
\n\u2022 The worshipper will then follow by bowing twice, clapping the hands twice, bowing again, then making their prayer.
\n\u2022 A Stage Hall (kaguraden<\/strong><\/em>) might even be present where they have Noh-theatre performances, sacred dances and music (kagura<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Noh-theatre<\/strong> originates from the 14th Century, where themes are often related to dreams, supernatural worlds, ghosts and spirits. Noh<\/strong>(\u80fd) is often mixed with kyogen<\/strong><\/em>, comical pieces, that are performed at intervals to the main performance. The mixing of these two performances was listened as a Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.<\/p>\n

For “How to Pray at Japanese Shinto Shrine” article, CLICK HERE<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Japanese Shinto means a \u201cplace of the gods\u201d or \u201cthe way of the deities\u201d, a Shinto Shrine (Jinga) is conside […]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,32],"tags":[203,269,546,547,548],"class_list":["post-510095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-post","category-usefull-info","tag-jinjya","tag-useful-information","tag-shrine","tag-shinto","tag-worship-method"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510095"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":510409,"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510095\/revisions\/510409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yokoso-shinjuku.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}