What were the shrines that the Japanese people erected to support their animist Shinto beliefs in the ancient past?
Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan and has existed for thousands of years. It is a combination of animist beliefs and traditions. For example, people might pay their respects to the spirit of the river that brings water and fish, the spirit of a mountain that provides protection or the spirit of the harvest or other intangible feature. Naturally, people in different locations pay their respects to different sets of local phenomena. Animist priests – often referred to as shamans – generally led local communities in remembering the various rituals of the year and in performing various rites in response to disease, possession, childbirth, marriages and funerals.
In early Japan, prior that it is to the establishment of the various schools of Buddhist thought that arrived from China and India, Shinto shrines were marked by their simplicity and small-scale – many similar shrines may still be witnessed today. In 737 CE, more than 3,000 such shrines were officially recognised as existing in the country. Of these, around one quarter were supported by state resources. The shrines were customarily built from wood and became idealized as something of an exemplar for Japanese architecture. They were generally wooden shelters just large enough to accommodate a small altar. They were designed such that a single individual could pay respects in front of the shrine at one time. No provision was made for group services or worship.
Over time, the practice was instituted of providing some kind of offering to the spirit celebrated by the shrine. The offering, which may be one of food or drink, was known as gohei. In some cases, people believed that the act of dedication made the gohei itself a sacred object worthy of veneration. In that case, it might be subsequently redistributed among faithful persons. In other cases, it was believed that some part of the essence of the spirit or god entered into the gohei itself, thus further rendering the objects involved as worthy of veneration.
The shrines were known as miya, which contains the word for a house ‘ya’ together with a sacred honorific prefix. Made of wood, they did not last forever and were not intended to be. Instead, religious observers could show their devotion by causing the miya to be moved to a nearby location but recreated with entirely new materials. The shape would be the same, the substance different and the sacred nature of the shrine maintained. This was reinforced by cleansing rituals (misogi), exorcism rituals (harai) and the abstention of followers (imi).
