Recently, I was chatting to one of the priests at my local jinja, and the topic of the “feel” or “flavour” of jinja came up. The priest put it in terms of feeling the presence of the kami, and that is at least as good as any other expression.
When I have my Jinja Honchō hat on, I obviously avoid suggesting that there are any jinja that do not feel as though the kami are present — but there are. I have no idea whether different people would agree on which jinja feel this way, or whether it actually has anything to do with the kami, but it is a thing, and not just for me.
It would be extremely inappropriate to name jinja where I don’t feel anything, but I will mention a few where I do (or have).
One is Ikonahimë Jinja, which has completely redone its website since I last looked and is now calling itself Izu Shirahama Jinja. Website aside, this example might be unsurprising. It is on the coast, outside urban areas, with an impressive sacred forest and a torii out on a rock overlooking the ocean. Somewhere like that might be expected to feel special.
However, another is Kon’nō Hachimangū, which is in Shibuya, in the centre of Tokyo. The sacred forest is limited by the size of the precincts, and skyscrapers loom over the sanctuaries. Nevertheless, this jinja also feels special. So, maybe it is the fact that neither of these jinja was heaving with people when I was there, and they do not have cafes and similar gimmicks.
No, that’s not it either, because Kinomiya Jinja also feels like the kami are present. It was very busy when I was there, and it has cafes and viewing platforms for the sacred tree, along with a light display for the evenings, and a very new omamori office.
And then there is Shizuoka Sengen Jinja, which is large, busy, and was a building site when I was there because they are refurbishing the prayer hall.
I chose these jinja because they demonstrate quite nicely that there is no obvious common feature — there are plenty of other jinja that have a similar effect on me. And, as I say, I have no idea whether other people would agree with me about these choices. At least for me, however, it is undeniable that a lot of jinja, but not all, feel special, and that I cannot point to anything objective that makes the difference.
Maybe it is the kami.
Hello! I really enjoyed this piece, and one thing really caught my attention-your comments about the Konno Hachimangu, and for the following reason: I spent a month in Tokyo from mid July to mid August of this year. I have been practicing Shinto for a few years, and I enjoy going to different Jinja’s to pay my respects to the Kami and, of course, collect goshuin.
Early on in my trip I was doing something or other around Shibuya, and late one morning I decided to stop and pay my respects at Konno, as I had never been there before. I have visited dozens of shrines, and some have…I don’t know. Struck me different. Just felt different. This one was one of them. There was something there on that first visit that I just couldn’t put my finger on, but there was a presence. So much so that I sat in that little courtyard in front of the stage for about two hours and just sort of soaked it in and folded origami cranes (luckily, most of my time in Japan is free time and I don’t usually have a calendar to keep). One of my tasks on my yearly visit to Japan is to exchange my ofuda, so I went back later in my trip and bought an ofuda from Konno for my kamidana. So, not only was it one of the few Jinjas that I visited twice, I felt a connection there strong enough to bring back an ofuda and install it in my kamidana.
I took a picture of my hand holding one of the cranes I folded that day with the haiden in the background, and it has been my main desktop background picture for quite some time.
Our shared experience is not scientific evidence…but I find it very interesting.
I appreciate reading your work, and I hope you have a hopeful 2026.
It is interesting… Thank you for sharing.