Temples and Shrines : an explanation
Written by Maciamo on 19 August 2002
A few months ago, I was still wondering how to distinguish Japanese temples and shrines. After some research, here is what have found.
Japan has two main religions, the native Shinto animism, and Buddhism. Basically, we speak of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. On maps and guidebooks, shrines are represented by a torii (gate) and Buddhist temples by a swastika (it is a symbol of good luck for Hindus and Buddhists and is inverted compared to the nazi one).
Shinto (¿ÀÆ»), the way of the gods, has no formal structure or rules. there are no teachings or particular moral. It is all about gods being everywhere in the nature, for instance in a tree, a mountain or a river. This is typical for animism as followers believe in good and evil spirits, even ghosts (you will notice that lots of Japanese people still have a kind of fear for ghosts). Shinto was made religion of state at the Meiji restoration and is still funded by the government.
Buddhism was imported from China with the kanji from the Nara to the Kamakura period. There are about 14 sects (½¡ shuu in Japanese) and all have their own structure, with a main temple and independant finance. Some are more prosperous than others. Nowadays, the active (or surviving sects) include the popular Jodo-shu ¾ôÅÚ½¡ (pure land) and Jodo-shinshu ¾ôÅÚ¿¿½¡ (true pure land), the two branches of Zen¡¡Áµ, Rinzai Î׺Ñ, and Soto Áâƶ, Nichiren ÆüÏ¡, Tendai Å·Âæ, and esoteric Shingon ¿¿¸À (similar to Tibetan Buddhism).
Now it is a bit more complicated than that if we want to understand the differences between all kinds of temples and shrines. In Japanese, shrine translates jinja (¿À¼Ò), jingu (¿ÀµÜ), taisha (Âç¼Ò or even hachimangu (ȬȨµÜ), Tenmangu (Å·ËþµÜ) or Tenjin (Å·¿À). Temples are either ji (»û), in (±¡) or some other names like fudoson (ÉÔưº don't confuse it with fudosan ÉÔÆ°»º, which means "real estate" :p ).
Let's start with Shinto. Shrines always have a "tori" to mark the entrance. Ordinary shrines are called jinja. The most common are the Inari Jinja (°ð²Ù¿À¼Ò). You'll find them everywhere in Japan in almost every district, sometimes concealed between two houses. Inari is the goddess of rice, sake and fertility.
Every gods have a main shrine called Taisha. The Fushimi Inari Taisha, for example, is in Kyoto. It is really impressive, and I recommend anyone to visit this city. I am going to write special article about it later.
The Jingu are very few. They are Imperial shrines. The most famous ones are the Meiji Jingu in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, the Heian Jingu in Kyoto, the Ise Jingu (Mie Prefecture) and the Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya.
The Hachiman-gu are special shrines to the god of the same name. As Hachiman was an Emperor later deified, his shrines have the suffix "gu" (µÜ) like in "jingu". Here is what I found on Internet about Hachiman :
Generally refers to the deified Emperor Ôjin together with his mother Empress Jingû and his wife Himegami. They were first enshrined in the Usa Hachimangû in Oita Prefecture and later in many Hachiman shrines throughout Japan. Historically worshiped by the military class as a god of war, Hachiman is now the object of deep devotion for many people in Japan.
Yahoo Reference has the following information:
One of the most popular of Japan's Shinto deities. Referred to as the god of war, he is believed to be the deification of Ojin, the fifteenth emperor. He is the patron of the Minamoto clan and of warriors in general. His first shrine was built in 725, and today half the Shinto shrines are dedicated to him. In the 8th cent. Hachiman was accepted as a Buddhist divinity.
Now, let us pass to Buddhist Temples. The division is not as clear as for shrines and I am not yet 100% sure of how it works. The "in", like in Chion-in (in Kyoto) seem to be sub-temples of a main one called "ji". In big temple complex such as the Daitoku-ji (Northern Kyoto), there are dozens of sub-temples. However, some temples are called "in" without belonging to a main temple. For instance, the Byodo-in (Phoenix pavilion, on the back of the 10yen coin) in Uji, a residence of the powerful Fujiwara family, was later converted into a temple but as it was not founded as such it cannot be called "ji" (»û) I have asked many people about this, but nodoby has been able to help me.
Otherwise, you can sometimes recognise the sect of the temple through the style. The Jodo-shu and Jodo-shinshu being popular sects (easy to follow as you can be saved just by saying the name of Amida, with no meditation needed) are more rich and usually build bigger temples. The Nishi and Higashi Hongan-ji in Kyoto are good examples. In contrast, Rinzai Zen temples are often smaller, painted in white, with thatched roof and peaceful gardens. You will find lots of them in the Higashi Yama part of Kyoto.
The Fudoson are also Buddhist temples, but with the strange particularity to be dedicated to the (Buddhist) god of fire. Strangely, this deity would favorise happy marriages.
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