Another research report in Issue 277 of Shintō Shūkyō was about jinja and kami in the digital world: “The Metaverse and Shrines: The Case of Torikai Hachiman Shrine in Fukuoka Prefecture”, by Takeda Atsushi.
In 2023, Torikai Hachimangū (鳥飼八幡宮) created a digital version of the jinja in Zepeto, a virtual world. In-world avatars can (or could — I am not sure whether it is still active and do not have time right now to find out) enter the jinja, purify themselves at the purification font, and pay their respects in the standard way, by bowing twice, clapping twice, and bowing once. They can get omamori and ema from the juyosho, which seems to be staffed by an NPC miko, and the omamori can be worn by the avatar as necklaces. There is also an NPC priest, who performs purifications, but you cannot have a gokitō, a formal prayer. Also, because the priest and miko are NPCs, they cannot (or at least could not — technology develops) interact with visitors.
This is not mainstream Shinto at the moment, and if you look at the website you can see photographs of the jinja’s new prayer hall, which is very clearly not standard — although I think it is very effective. Also, the jinja’s web address is “hachimansama.jp”, which suggests that they got a website early on. I think it is fair to say that the chief priest at this jinja is one of those who are pushing the boundaries of what can be done within the Shinto tradition. This is a very important role, because the only way to find out how Shinto will adapt to a changing world is to try it.
Takeda also interviewed the person responsible for the virtual jinja at Torikai Hachimangū, and at least part of that is reported in the journal. When asked about the reason for creating the virtual jinja, they said that they wanted to share the newly-built prayer hall with the world, make it possible for the elderly and disabled to visit, and give young people a chance to learn about jinja. Their response when asked about the status of the virtual jinja was very interesting. They said that they see it as a jinja, in the virtual world, with the implication that the kami is enshrined virtually, but that one could also think of it as paying distant reverence to the physical jinja.
Takeda concludes by noting that Jinja Honchō does not think that you can enshrine a kami in a virtual space, nor that virtual omamori can host the kami’s power. (Can confirm. We have had that conversation.) He says that this is something that will have to be addressed, because people are likely to start venerating online jinja. He thinks it would be hard to interpret this as distant reverence (yōhai — 遥拝) for the physical jinja, and that, in any case, the theology of distant reverence is not clearly established. It is obvious that one can do it, but not what the conditions are for doing it effectively. (Can confirm this as well.)
This is a topic that the Shinto community will, ultimately, have to deal with, but that may end up being a matter of quietly ignoring the jinja doing things one thinks are illegitimate.