Issues 280 and 281 of the Journal of Shinto Studies (神道宗教) were merged into a single special issue, focusing on the modern history of Shinto — defined as post-1868. There are a few articles in this issue I want to write about, but first I want to pick up some numbers given in the introductory article by the issue’s editor, Fujimoto Yorio (藤本頼生).
The first compares the numbers of religious institutions (defined as religious corporations) and religious professionals (priests, monks, pastors) for Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity. These numbers are taken from the government’s statistics for 2024.
Shinto has 78,251 jinja, and 21,071 priests. Buddhism has 73,554 temples, and 320,556 monks and nuns. Christianity has 2,790 churches, and 9,367 priests and pastors. Shinto, then, has 0.27 priests per jinja, while Buddhism has 4.36 monks/nuns per temples, and Christianity has 3.36 pastors per church. For comparison, there are 24,185 post offices, with 169,961 employees (7.03 per office — data for 2025), and 55,936 convenience stores in Japan.
The very low number of priests per jinja for Shinto stands out from these numbers. One might think that this is a result of recent changes, but the other set of numbers shows that it is not. These numbers are taken from Jinja Honchō’s publications, and so they do not quite match the government’s numbers (there are jinja that are not affiliated with Jinja Honchō), but they cover the last forty years, with some gaps.
In 1986, there were 79,152 jinja, and 20,029 priests, which is 0.25 priests/jinja, even fewer than today. Jinja Honchō’s numbers for 2024 are 78,089 jinja and 20,992 priests, which is 0.27/jinja, and this the same as the proportion calculated from the government statistics. The peak in the number of priests was probably in 2017, with 21,790 priests (I say probably because of the missing years, but there would have to have been very rapid changes in numbers for any missing year to be higher than that). In that year, there were 78,731 jinja, and thus 0.28 priests/jinja.
Eyeballing the numbers, the number of priests grew slowly until about 2007, and then it plateaued until around 2018, since when it has been falling slowly. The number of jinja, on the other hand, was roughly stable until about 1998, since when it has been falling. The table also includes entries for the number of jinja mergers, but unless each merger involves multiple jinja (the Japanese is not crystal clear) there are not enough to account for the decline. This may be due to jinja leaving Jinja Honchō. There are also entries for the foundation of new jinja, and for existing jinja joining Jinja Honchō. Two new jinja were founded in 2020, but none since. By contrast, 22 were founded in 1986, another 22 in 1987, and 21 in 1988. The most recent year before 2020 with as many as two new jinja was 2012, and in the twenty years before that the new foundations were in single digits.
The number of chief priests, as opposed to priests in general, has been dropping steadily, albeit slowly, since around 2000. In that year, there were 10,917 chief priests, 51% of the total, while in 2024 there were 9,877, 47% of the total. The shift in proportion is (according to talk in the Shinto community) due to an increase in the number of priests working at large, wealthy jinja.
The table also gives the number of female chief priests. In 1986, that was 289, or 2.6% of all chief priests. The number of female chief priests has grown consistently, and in 2024 there were 841, which is 8.5% of chief priests. Given that Jinja Shinpō is still reporting chief priests dying in office after serving in that role since before I was born (which was some time before these statistics start), this is quite a remarkable rate of growth.
Very roughly, on current trends, we would expect gender parity in about eighty years. I would expect this to accelerate, because (I believe) a higher proportion of newly-qualified priests are female now than they were forty years ago, but as only about 30% are female I would then expect it to slow down again. However, if the proportion of female trainees goes up over the next couple of decades, we could still hit parity on that schedule.
The very, very slow turnover of Shinto chief priests and the current proportion of women among trainees for the priesthood means that expecting gender parity in much less than eighty years is not realistic — you would need more women training now, and over the last decade, than has actually been the case. In other words, you need to change the past, and that is difficult.
The overall statistics suggest that Shinto is declining, gently, at the margins. On the other hand, the high number of jinja per priest is just the way Shinto is, and has been for decades, so it is not, in itself, a reason for concern. The falling proportion of chief priests is probably a sign of the concentration of Shinto activities in a smaller number of more active jinja, and that may be the future of the tradition. It has changed a lot over the millennia, and it will continue to do so.
What does Shinto priest training consist of and how is one determined to be qualified? Have foreigners ever become priests?
Thank you.
Within Jinja Shinto, one is qualified if Jinja Honchō gives one a licence. There are several ways to do that, but the most “open” way is to study at one of the two Shinto universities for four years. If you serve at a jinja while studying, you can get the licence immediately on graduation; otherwise, you need to do some practical service first.
The content includes studying the ancient texts and the history of Shinto, learning to write norito, practising the ritual movements, and learning the practical and legal aspects of running a jinja. (Roughly.)
Foreigners have become priests. Right now, I know of an Austrian-born priest and a Ukrainian-born priest, and I am told that there are several priests who are/were Zainichi Koreans. (They may well have naturalised. Some Zainichis have a strong resistance to taking Japanese citizenship, but I am guessing that those people would not become Shinto priests.)