is a

god In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

enshrined to protect a specific

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

or a certain area of

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

. Nowadays, it is often equated with

Ujigami An is a guardian god or spirit of a particular place in the Shinto religion of Japan. The ''ujigami'' was prayed to for a number of reasons, including protection from sickness, success in endeavors, and good harvests. History The ''ujigami' ...

and

Ubusunagami in Shinto are tutelary kami of one's birthplace. Overview In Shinto, a guardian deity of the land of one's birth. It is believed to be a deity that protects you from before you are born until after you die, and that it will protect you throug ...

. A shrine that enshrines a guardian deity is called a

Chinjusha In Japan, a is a Shinto shrine which enshrines a ; that is, a patron spirit that protects a given area, village, building or a Buddhist temple. The Imperial Palace has its own tutelary shrine dedicated to the 21 guardian gods of Ise Shrine. ...

. They contrast with Ujigami by having ties to land and buildings rather than bloodlines. Anyone living on the land worships them regardless of blood ties.

Overview

It is said to have originated in the

Garanshin In East Asian Mahayana Buddhism, the Sangharama are a class of deities who are guardians of Buddhist temples and monasteries. Equivalent to the Taoist "realm master deity" (境主), the Sangharama are a lower class of Dharmapala. The Sangharama ...

() of China. In the

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

s of Japan, as

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

was introduced and

Shinbutsu-shūgō ''Shinbutsu-shūgō'' (, "syncretism of kami and buddhas"), also called Shinbutsu shū (, "god buddha school") Shinbutsu-konkō (, "jumbling up" or "contamination of kami and buddhas"), is the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism that was Japan's o ...

progressed, Shinto deities were enshrined to protect temples, and later Shinto deities were also enshrined in buildings other than temples and in certain areas of land. Nowadays, it is often thought that the jinchujin is the deity that lives in the land ( Jinushigami), but if we trace back to the beginning, the jinchujin was a newly enshrined deity to suppress and subjugate the jishu kami. In other words, when people built artifacts on a certain land, they would enshrine a new deity with stronger spiritual power than the landowner deity in order to prevent the spirit of the deity dwelling in the land from causing hauntings that would harm people and artifacts. The landowner deity was expected to obediently submit to the guardian deity and to protect and assist the guardian deity in its activities (sometimes the landowner deity would resist and cause a haunting). However, with time, the original meaning of the Shinto gods was forgotten, and the Shinto gods were confused with the landowner gods, which resulted in a conflation of the two. These guardian deities were worshipped in

Mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

Shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

s, and

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s, and also in

Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

s. As for the fact that gods came to be enshrined as guardian deities in villages, it is thought that one of the reasons for this was that in the conflict between a certain village and the

Gōzoku , in Japanese, refers to powerful regional families. In historical context, it can refer to powerful non-royal families regardless of their area of influence, in contrast to the Imperial Family. The most powerful ''gōzoku'' families of the Yamat ...

that ruled the surrounding area, shrines came to be enshrined as guardians in villages as a form of opposition to the spiritual authority of the Ujigami, the clan gods enshrined by the Gōzoku.

Shinto shrines

Shrines erected as adjuncts to Buddhist temples were called jinjū-sha. The synonym (which is mainly a shrine) is called Jinguji. In addition, when the guardian of an institution is a Buddhist temple, it is sometimes referred to as Jinjū-ji, Jinjūdō, or Jinjū-den.

Gallery

File:Asashiro-jinja03s3200.jpg, The main hall and Inari shrine (Inari Omyojin/ Dakini) of File:七宝瀧寺鎮守堂泉佐野市 2013.11.23 - panoramio.jpg, ・（） File:観心寺にて鎮守堂(訶梨帝母天堂) 2013.3.15 - panoramio.jpg,

Hariti Hārītī (Sanskrit), also known as , ja, text=鬼子母神, translit=Kishimojin, is both a revered goddess and demon, depending on the Buddhist tradition. She is one of the Twenty-Four Protective Deities of Mahayana Buddhism. In her posit ...

Hall（

Kanshin-ji is a Buddhist temple located in the Teramoto neighborhood of the city of Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture, in the Kansai region of Japan. It is one of the head temples of the Kōyasan Shingon-shū branch of Shingon Buddhism. The temple ha ...

） File:Gahaishizan Mandaraji 05.JPG, Chinju-dō、 Dō、

Homa Homa may refer to: Places Ethiopia * Homa (woreda), a district in Oromia Region, Ethiopia Kenya * Homa Bay, a town and a bay on the shore of Lake Victoria in Kenya * Homa Mountain, a volcano near Homa Bay, Kenya Iran * Chal Homa, Mark ...

（） File:Makisan Chofukuji 07.JPG, Hall ()

References

{{Reflist Tutelary deities Japanese folk religion Shinto shrines Japanese gods Shinto Shinto kami Shinto terminology

Overview

Shinto shrines

Gallery

See also

References