Temples and shrines : an explanation
A few months ago, I was still wondering how to recognise the different sorts of 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 神道, the way of the gods, has no formal structure or rules. there are no teachings or particular moral. It's all about gods being everywhere in the nature, for instance in a tree, a mountain or a river. That's a typical animism as followers believe in good and evil spirits, even ghosts (you'll notice that lot's 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 (宗 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 浄土宗 (pure land) and Jodo-shinshu 浄土真宗 (true pure land), the 2 branches of Zen, Rinzai 臨済宗 and Soto 曹洞宗, Nichiren 日蓮宗, Tendai 天台宗 and esoteric Shingon 真言宗 (similar to Tibetan Buddhism).
For more info on Shinto and Japanese Buddhism, check the site referredhere
Now it's 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 神社, jingu 神宮, taisha 大社 or even hachimangu 八幡宮. Temples are either ji 寺 , in 院 or some other names like fudoson 不動尊 (don't confuse it with fudosan 不動産, , 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 稲荷神社. 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 Inari Taisha, for example, is in Kyoto. It is really impressive and I recommend it to anyone going 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 Yoyogi Koen, 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" 宮 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.
There was also this on Yahoo Reference :
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's pass to Buddhist Temples. The division is not as clear as for shrines and I am not yet 100% 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. Now I am still not sure why some are called "ji" and other "in" even inside a same compound. Apparently, the Byodo-in (Phoenix pavillion, on the back of the 10yen coin) in Uji, which was 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" (?). 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'll 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.
