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are offerings of foods given up to
Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...
s or ''
kamidana are miniature household altars provided to enshrine a Shinto . They are most commonly found in Japan, the home of worship. The is typically placed high on a wall and contains a wide variety of items related to Shinto-style ceremonies, the mos ...
'' in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The annual
festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...
carried out at different times of the year originated from
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 ...
rituals and festivals. As part of the ritual, locals would offer up food that had received a special blessing to welcome the ''
kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...
'' ("gods" or "spirits"). Food offered up could range from their staple of
rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
to seafood, food foraged from the mountains, seasonal foods, local specialties, or food connected to the enshrined kami. At the end of the ritual, the offered food is eaten together to gain a sense of unity with the kami, and to gain their blessing and protection. The rite is known as ''naorai.''


Process


Preparation

There are shrines that have buildings dedicated to preparing ''shinsen,'' but for the shrines that do not, they separate their shrine office from the outside using a ''
shimenawa are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with —traditional paper streamers. A space bound by ty ...
'', and then
priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...
or ''ujiko,'' someone who worships an ''
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' ...
,'' who have purified themselves by abstaining from meat prepare the offerings. A purifying fire known as ''imibi'' is used, and to ensure no saliva or breath touches the ''shinsen,'' it is common for the priests to cover their mouths with paper. Such care is put into the preparation of the ''shinsen'' that even those whose relatives have recently been met with illness or death are not allowed to take part. Before the
Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...
, the imperial court would send out their chief steward to festivals held on imperial grounds such as the Kasuga Festival held at the
Kasuga Grand Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It is the shrine of the Fujiwara family, established in 768 CE and rebuilt several times over the centuries. The interior is famous for its many bronze lanterns, as well as the many stone lant ...
to prepare the offerings. 春日大社 秘儀開封 P.218 Upon
Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
's orders to revive the traditional ceremonies, the ''shinsen'' offered up returned to the unique kind given at festivals tied to the imperial family, 神饌 P.72 but their preparation was carried out by regular Shinto priests. 春日大社 秘儀開封 P.218


Offerings

As there is an underlying concept of doing all one can with sincerity, 神饌 P.77 there are many changes in the contents of the ''shinsen'' depending on season or region. There are regions where the custom of offering up the first produce of the year before an altar without eating it remains, 神饌 神と人との饗宴 P.2 but there are also areas where offerings are selected from amongst the seasonal foods.


Grains

Ever since Japan learned how to cultivate rice, spring being the season to plow the fields and autumn being the season to harvest the crops has become the foundation of Japanese society. It is believed that the kami of food and agriculture,
Ukanomitama Ukanomitama (宇迦之御魂神 – Mighty Soul of Sustenance - ''Kojiki'') (倉稲魂命 - '' Nihongi'') is a ''kami'' in classical Japanese mythology, associated with food and agriculture, often identified with Inari, the deity of rice. Name a ...
, resides within the rice, and so rice is deeply connected to their way of life. 図解雑学 神道 P.110 It is for this reason that food or drink made from rice such as
mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally ma ...
or
sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...
are a staple offering, so much so that there is even a saying that says, "There is no kami without sake." 日本の食とこころ P.10 However, as the ritual does not have a specific form, the specific offerings are not standardized, either.


Specialty foods

Aside from grains, it is also common for seafood and vegetables to be offered up, and there are some shrines that offer up fowl. However, it is rare for animal meat to be offered up as ''shinsen''. The ''
Engishiki The is a Japanese book about laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History In 905, Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ...
'' lists many specific offerings other than sacred sake, such as various kinds of mochi, and also contains records of how to prepare dishes like simmered
bonito Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae – a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of ...
, sweetfish boiled in
brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...
, and
crucian carp The crucian carp (''Carassius carassius'') is a medium-sized member of the common carp family Cyprinidae. It occurs widely in northern European regions. Its name derives from the Low German ''karusse'' or ''karutze'', possibly from Medieval Lat ...
simmered in ''hishio.'' Although many shrines desire ''shinsen'' made up only of vegetables that do not emit a strong smell, a Buddhist diet known as ''kinkunshoku'', there are shrines that do not go by this. For example,
garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...
is offered up at
Kamigamo Shrine is an important Shinto sanctuary on the banks of the Kamo River in north Kyoto, first founded in 678. Its formal name is the . It is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and is one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which ...
, and animal meat is offered up at Shiromi Shrine, where a rite known as ''onie'' is carried out in which the head of a
boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...
that had been hunted that year is offered up. Shrines where people are honoured, such as those who died in the war, it is common to offer up beer, cigarettes or other such off-the-shelf items, which is also considered ''shinsen.'' Local specialties or items tied to traditions are often given up as ''shinsen''. That has continued to the present day, and many have remained in the form of a region's characteristic Shinto rituals. For example,
Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...
's
burdock ''Arctium'' is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock, family Asteraceae. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide. Burdock's clinging properties, in addition to providing an excellent mecha ...
ritual,
Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...
's eggplant ritual,
Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...
's cucumber festival,
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 ...
's
wasabi Wasabi (Japanese: , , or , ; ''Eutrema japonicum'' or ''Wasabia japonica'') or Japanese horseradish is a plant of the family Brassicaceae, which also includes horseradish and mustard in other genera. The plant is native to Japan and the Russian ...
festival, and
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
's ''sumomo'' plum festival. Other than food symbolising a ripe harvest, there are shrines such as Mimi Shrine in Mihama,
Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, Gi ...
, Suwa Shrine in Nambu,
Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...
, and
Miho Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The Taisha-zukuri Honden of 1813 is an Important Cultural Property. A collection of 846 musical instruments dedicated to the shrine, and two dugout-canoes used in the Morotabune rite hav ...
found in
Matsue is the capital city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 202,008 (February 1, 2021) following the merger with Higashiizumo from Yatsuka District. Matsue is located at ...
,
Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...
, where what is offered up is ''
Dioscorea tokoro ''Dioscorea'' is a genus of over 600 species of flowering plants in the family Dioscoreaceae, native throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. The vast majority of the species are tropical, with only a few species extending ...
,'' a plant that is not regularly eaten in everyday life. 神饌 PP.163-164 神饌 P.148 There are three different interpretations for why the ''tokoro'' is offered up by the three different shrines: 神饌 P.149 it is offered up at Mimi Shrine in thanks for keeping their hunger at bay during famine, 神饌 P.148 Miho Shrine because it was said to be a lucky charm in a book of 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 ...
resulting in it being used as a talisman at New Year's, Suwa Shrine because it was traditionally used for its medicinal properties. 神饌 P.206


''Tougashi''

Food prepared with oil is often given up as ''shinsen.'' 神饌 神と人との饗宴 P.11 Oil was traditionally made from ingredients such as
sesame seeds Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...
, ''
kaya Kaya may refer to: People *Kaya (given name) *Kaya (surname) Places *Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department *Kaya Airport, serving the town * Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in centr ...
'' or
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
s, but it is said the method of using oil to fry foods came from China, leading to them being called ''tougashi,'' or Chinese sweets. Sweets called '' heso-dango,'' named as such because they look like a belly button (''heso''), are offered up at
Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
's
Ikuta Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Chūō Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country. History According to '' Nihon Shoki'', it was founded by the Empress Jingū at the beginning of the 3rd century AD to enshrine the '' ...
. They are made by beating rice into rice flour, rolling them into balls, and then pressing a finger through the middle of it. When these are made into a semi-circular shape like
gyoza ''Jiaozi'' (; ; pinyin: jiǎozi) are Chinese dumplings commonly eaten in China and other parts of East Asia. ''Jiaozi'' are folded to resemble Chinese sycee and have great cultural significance attached to them within China. ''Jiaozi'' ar ...
dumplings instead, they are called ''buto.'' When it is laced together in a way that looks like an 8, it is called ''magarimochi.'' When it is cylinder-shaped, it is called ''baishi,'' though it was originally made by splitting it into a Y-shape.


Plants

There are also many shrines that offer up plants. For example, Isagawa Shrine in
Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
offers up a sake barrel decorated with ''sasayuri''
lilies ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...
. This is because the enshrined deity, Himetataraisuzuhime-no-Mikoto, lived on
Mount Miwa or is a mountain located in the city of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It has been an important religious and historical mountain in Japan, especially during its early history, and serves as a holy site in Shinto. The entire mountain is co ...
when she was young. There is a legend that on the bank of the Saigawa River that flows through it, there was an area where those lilies bloomed. Even now, the lilies offered up as ''shinsen'' come from Mount Miwa. 神饌 P.232


Passing down the traditions

In order to prevent the treatment of ''shinsen'' changing from being offerings to the kami to simply being regular mundane items, many of the details tied to the offering up of ''shinsen'' are passed down from generation to generation among trusted family members, so as to not mindlessly spread the methods. 神饌 PP.72-73 As a result, any written records left are often personal memos with very few official records left behind. This is also the case with the preparation of ''shinsen,'' and so there are many shrines that no longer know why it is tradition to make certain offerings as no written records were left. 神饌 P.32 However, there are also shrines which, upon realising that it would be difficult to pass down certain aspects of the preparation through traditional methods, chose to leave written records. 神饌 P.221 In 1871, the Great Council of State issued a proclamation abolishing the hereditary system of Shinto priests in which each new generation succeeded the last. In an attempt to pass down the information,
Katori Shrine The is a Shintō shrine in the city of Katori in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Shimōsa Province, and is the head shrine of the approximately 400 Katori shrines around the country (located primarily in the Kantō re ...
noted down the details of the rituals in various documents. Amongst these were details and attached illustrations on how to light an ''imibi,'' the required tools, how to use them, how to cut and weave Manchurian wild rice which is used to make the vessels which hold the offerings, how to prepare and dry fish, and how to make purifying smoke. 神饌 P.221 In areas where an ''ujiko'' prepared the ''shinsen,'' the methods were passed down by a group known as a ''miyaza.'' The family that took the leading role in the ''miyaza'' was known as the ''touya'', or the head family, and the central figure of that family was called the ''tounin.'' According to records detailing the system, the ''tounin'' was required to go through extreme fasting. There are shrines such as Miho Shrine that still retain the strict rules pertaining to this. For example, if someone is chosen to be the ''tounin,'' they must go through purification for four years without fail, and always ensure to pray at the shrine at midnight. If they meet with anyone during that time, they are required to restart from the beginning. There were some shrines where even when one finally became ''tounin,'' they had to go through further strict training which required them to remain in a room with all impurities removed, and they were restricted from not only meeting women, but from meeting anyone, at all. This was how they gained respect from the villagers, and gained the authority to become ''tounin.'' 神饌 P.141 As a general rule, those that were part of the ''miyaza'' were the males of the household, but there were female positions, as well. 神饌 P.184 It is not rare in the current day for rural shrines to struggle to find a successor. There are occasions where the amount of mochi needed is so large that it takes a lot of time and people to prepare them, so much so that it would be impossible for a single shrine priest to take all of that on by themselves. As such, they have to resort to buying already steamed and pounded mochi from stores, and only take on the shaping of the mochi. 神饌 P.162 Originally, the head priest at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine would stay in their chambers for seven days before a ritual, and would not eat any food made by a woman. It would only be made by the man himself before he attended the ritual. But in 2012, the ritual was eased to only abstaining from meat for three days after taking into consideration the other duties required of the priest. 神饌 P.135 However, the priest taking on the preparation is not simply due to a lack of successors, but rather because the descendents of the followers of
Sugawara no Michizane was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in Kanshi poetry, and is today revered in Shinto as the god of learning, . In the poem anthology ''Hyakunin Isshu'', he is known ...
prepare the ''shinsen'' themselves. This is because of legends that after Sugawara no Michizane was sent to Dazaifu, and his followers returned to Kyoto with his belongings when Kitano Tenmangu Shrine was built, they were the ones to prepare and offer up the ''shinsen'', continuing on with their lives while purifying the spirits of the dead. 神饌 P.137


See also

*
Osechi Osechi-ryōri (御節料理, お節料理 or おせち) are traditional Japanese New Year foods. The tradition started in the Heian period (794–1185). ''Osechi'' are easily recognizable by their special boxes called ''jūbako'' (重箱), whic ...


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * *


Further reading

*


External links


Ise Jingu – English
– The Ise Grand Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu.
Jinja Honcho – English
– The Official Japanese Organization of 80,000 Shinto shrines. {{Authority control Shinto practices Annual events in Japan Festivals in Japan Japanese cuisine Religious food and drink