OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL 199 



not recognized as having anything to do with the older Shinto. Not 

 until the revolution of 1868 was there instituted an authorized form of 

 Shinto burial .^^ 



SHINTO SHRINES 



In the earliest times the gods did not dwell in houses made by men's 

 hands; the place of worship was merely a sacred precinct inclosed by a 

 wall. According to tradition, the first temples were erected about the 

 beginning of the Christian era. The Shinto shrine, miya ("august 

 house"); yashiro ("representative house") is a small building, usu- 

 ally constructed of natural wood and of plain and simple construction, 

 resembling, it is said, that of the old Japanese houses. Those at Ise 

 are buUt of white cedar wood, unpainted, with a thatch of rushes. The 

 characteristic features are the gable timbers crossed and continued 

 beyond the apex. The interior has two rooms: The Jiaidon, an open 

 prayer hall in front, for the worshipers, and the sanctuary, honden, 

 containing the symbol (shintai), of the god, which only priests may 

 enter. In the court stand a laver (mitarashi), for ceremonial ablutions 

 and sometimes a stage (Jcagura-do) , for religious dances and pantomines 

 performed by a corps of dancing girls at festivals. The entrance to 

 the temple court is marked by a kind of portal, Torii, consisting of 

 two uprights, usually of natural v/ood, with a crossbeam resting on 

 them and projecting at both ends. 



Many houses have their domestic shrine, Tcamidana ("god-shelf"), 

 consisting of a shelf in a corner of the living room on which stand 

 tablets or strips of paper inscribed with the names of the gods pecu- 

 liarly venerated and the tutelary god of the owners' calling, or one or 

 more small unpainted wooden shrines for the habitation of the gods. 



"Broadly speaking, Shinto has no idols. There is usually no attempt 

 to give the shintai any resemblance to the supposed form of the god 

 whom it represents. * * * The pictures of the gods sold at Shinto 

 shrines in the present day are owing to Chinese or Buddhist injfluence. " *° 



PRIESTHOOD 



The most common name for a Shinto priest is 'kannusM, contracted 

 from Icami-nushi, "deity master." The kannushi are appointed by 

 the state. Many combine other avocations with their sacerdotal 

 functions. They are not celibates, and may return to the laity when 

 they please. Only when engaged in religious functions do they wear 

 a distinctive dress, consisting of a loose robe with wide sleeves, con- 

 fined at the waist by a girdle, and a black mitre, called ehoshi, bound by 

 a broad white fillet — a survival of an old form of court dress. 



S5 Aston. Shinto, etc., p. 61. "' Idem, p. 7!. 



