The Purpose of Jinja
What are jinja for? This is a question that members of Jinja Honchō’s Oversight Council have raised recently, and that has been addressed in editorials in Jinja Shinpō, but I do not think that there is an official answer. Here are some of the options that seem to be popular in the Shinto world — they could all be true at the same time. Jinja are places to venerate the kami. This is the most purely religious answer, and probably the closest to the original purpose of jinja. However, it… Read More »The Purpose of Jinja