Jinja Shinpō has an irregular short column on the front page (always the front page) written and signed pseudonymously by one of the reporters, giving their personal view of an issue related to Shinto. As they are written internally and not generally time critical, I suspect that the needs of layout are an important factor in whether they appear. There was one in the 25th May issue.
This one was by “Shima” and they start by saying that whenever they see a jinja in a film, they look in the credits to see which jinja it was. Once, they saw a famous jinja in the background of a horror film, and they were more surprised by the fact that the jinja gave permission than by the jump scares…
They went to see another horror film in which the title made it clear there was a connection to a jinja, and were worried that the portrayal would be inaccurate. In the end, the jinja only appeared in the opening, and they spent the film thinking it should have had a different title. Still, they thought that was better than getting it wrong. They say that they have seen a lot of works in which an accurate portrayal of Shinto and jinja was a secondary concern (no, really? I am shocked, shocked, to hear that), and when it is really bad it makes them angry.
On the other hand, they admit that part of the reason they became a priest was because they were attracted by the jinja and myths that appeared in particular fictions. If people are enjoying it, they don’t want to rain on their parade, but really, what is it with works portraying jinja as psychic spots?
As someone who has written an urban fantasy novel centred on a jinja, this is an issue I have thought about. I put quite a bit of effort into making the Shinto accurate, but it is an urban fantasy, and while the jinja does face the problem of the ujiko wanting less to do with it, the solution it finds is — how to put this — not one that is generally available in the real world.
At least for me, a lot depends on how important genuine elements of Shinto seem to be to the author. I have read quite a lot of Shinto-influenced manga, and sometimes Shinto and jinja are nothing more than poorly-researched window dressing. That certainly can be a bit annoying. On the other hand, when the author has clearly done quite a bit of research and treated the Shinto elements as important, even a supernatural love comedy does not bother me.
“Shima” refers to “objectively mistaken” elements, but given the diversity of Shinto in the real world, and the fact that we are talking about fiction, I do not think that is a useful idea. There are possible objective mistakes (thinking that miko vestments are like a blouse and skirt, for example — there is a full length white kimono under the red hakama), but they are all trivial. Portraying jinja as “psychic spots” could be a representation of how the author interacts with jinja in real life, as well as being accurate in the fiction.
This is an important but difficult issue that I will continue to think about.