Shinmei shrines () are

shrines A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

dedicated to the worship of the Japanese solar deity

Amaterasu Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the ''Kojik ...

. The head Shinmei shrine is

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inn ...

which inspired the

Shinmei-zukuri is an ancient Japanese architectural style typical of Ise Grand Shrine's ''honden'', the holiest of Shinto shrines.Encyclopedia of Shinto It is most common in Mie Prefecture.JAANUS History Ancient shrines were constructed according to the styl ...

architectural style.

History

The solar goddess of

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

Amaterasu Omikami Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the '' K ...

, is considered to be the ancestral deity of the

Imperial House of Japan The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...

, and is widely worshiped in agricultural rituals. During the

Kofun Period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

, a number of Shinmei Shrines, such as

, were constructed and dedicated to Amaterasu. In national rituals, only the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

was permitted to make offerings towards the deity. However, as the power of the imperial court declined in the middle of the

Heian Period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

, the central government could no longer financially support the Shinmei Shrines. As a result, the responsibilities of their maintenance fell onto local feudal lords, who were also given the right to relay prayers. Local lords donated part of their own estates (

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, ...

) as Shinryo () to construct shrines dedicated to Amaterasu, including

Nishina Shinmei Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Ōmachi, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is the oldest extant example of ''shinmei-zukuri'', one of three architectural styles which were conceived before the arrival of Buddhism in Japan. It predates in fact the more f ...

in Ōmachi, Shinmei Shrine in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, and Amatsu Shinmei Shrine in Kamogawa. Some of the Shinmei Shrines, such as the Shiba Great Shrine, were said to have predated the Shōen System. The priests of Shinmei Shrines, also known as Oshi (), temporarily enshrined the talisman

Jingū Taima is an ''ōnusa'' wrapped in clean Ise ''washi'' and issued by the Ise Grand Shrine. They are a form of ''ofuda''. History ''Jingu Taima'' were originally that wandering preachers associated with the shrines of handed out to devotees acros ...

in their branch offices in the eastern part of Japan, and some of these offices later developed into Shinmei Shrines as well. During the

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

and later Muromachi Periods, Oshi's influence began to spread among both high-ranking samurai class and the common people. Especially in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, an increasing number of shrines outside of the traditional Shinryo were given permission by Oshi to enshrine Amaterasu. These shrines came to be known as "Imashinmei" () or "Hishinmei" (). In the

Edo Period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, the Ise faith became even more popular, spreading throughout the country and permeating a wide range of social classes. In 1632, Ise Shrine published the Ise Calendar in 1632, which recorded dates for agricultural activities and was widely used before the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

.Nishigaki 1983, pp.156-157 As the influence of Ise Shrine and its deity Amaterasu grew, the number of Shinmei Shrines increased further.

History

Major shrines

References

Bibliography