journal of shinto studies

Issue 279 of the Journal of Shintō Studies has a report on a presentation by Yamanaka Terushige entitled “About the Pre-War and Post-War Shinto Priesthood System: The Transformation of the Rank of Gon-negi”. Readers of this blog may know that, in contemporary Jinja Shinto, there are three ranks of priest at most jinja: Gūji (宮司 Chief Priest), Negi (禰宜 Senior Priest) and Gon-negi (権禰宜 Junior Priest). Large jinja may also have a Gon-gūji (権宮司 Deputy Chief Priest). Gon-negi is probably the most common rank, because a jinja is only allowed… Read More »Priestly Titles

In Issue 279 of the Journal of Shintō Studies, there is a report of a presentation by Adachi Ryō entitled “A Problem in the Composition of Norito: About the Reading and Usage of the Term Saihō”. I think the immediate content of this is of no interest to my readers (you are not likely to be writing norito), but what it shows about the place of norito in contemporary Shinto might be very interesting. First, a little bit of background. Norito are formal Shinto prayers. They are written in classical… Read More »Norito Composition

In this post, I want to quickly summarise two presentations from the 2026 annual meeting of The Society of Shinto Studies, as reported in issue 279 of their journal. Both concern the Tokugawa period (1603 to 1868). The first, by Satō Mami (佐藤真実) is “The Transition of Beliefs and Conceptions Concerning the Haraedo no Kami (Seoritsuhime) from the Medieval to the Early Modern Period”, and the other, by Kimura Nagisa (木村凪沙) is “Norinaga Motoori’s Theory of the Functions of Hayasasurahime”. Both presentations concern theories about kami who are named in… Read More »Seoritsuhimë & Hayasasurahimë

Issue 279 of the Journal of Shintō Studies (神道宗教) reported on the annual meeting held in 2024. As always, there are a few longer articles based on presentations in the main symposium, and dozens of short pieces reporting on the research of different members of the scholarly association that hosts it, and publishes the journal. As normal, I would like to write about several of the articles, spread over a few posts. First, I want to pick up one talk from the symposium. The theme was “The Media and Religion”,… Read More »The Origins of Shinto Weddings

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… Read More »Virtual Jinja