{{Short description|Objects worshipped at or near Shinto shrines}} {{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}} [[File:Fuji_Kawaguchi_357.JPG|thumb|275 px|Mount Fuji is one of Japan's ''shintai''.]]
In Shinto, {{nihongo|'''''shintai'''''|神体||"body of the kami"}}, or {{nihongo|'''''go-shintai'''''|御神体||"sacred body of the kami"}} when the honorific prefix ''go''- is used, are physical objects worshipped at or near Shinto shrines as repositories in which spirits or ''kami'' reside.<ref name="sos">''Shintai'', Encyclopedia of Shinto</ref> ''Shintai'' used in Shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto) can be also called {{nihongo|''mitamashiro''|御霊代||"spirit replacement" or "substitute"}}.<ref name="sos"/>
In spite of what their name may suggest, ''shintai'' are not themselves part of ''kami'', but rather just temporary repositories which make them accessible to human beings for worship.<ref>Smyers, page 44</ref> ''Shintai'' are also of necessity ''yorishiro'', that is objects by their very nature capable of attracting ''kami''.
==Description== The most common ''shintai'' are man-made objects like mirrors, swords, jewels (for example comma-shaped stones called ''magatama)'', ''gohei'' (wands used during religious rites), and sculptures of ''kami'' called {{nihongo|''shinzō''|神像}},<ref>''Kami'' are as a rule not represented in anthropomorphic or physical terms, however numerous paintings and statues representing them have appeared under Buddhist influence.</ref> but they can be also natural objects such as rocks ({{nihongo|''shinishi''|神石}}), mountains ({{nihongo|''shintai-zan''|神体山}}), trees ({{nihongo|''shinboku''|神木}}), and waterfalls ({{nihongo|''shintaki''|神滝}}).<ref name="sos"/> Before the forcible separation of ''kami'' and Buddhas of 1868 (''shinbutsu bunri'') a ''shintai'' could even be the statue of a Buddhist deity.
Other ''shintai'' include the mirror Yata no Kagami (one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan), Mount Miwa, Mount Nantai, Mount Kibi no Nakayama, the Nachi Falls, and the Meoto Iwa rocks. Many mountains like Mount Miwa or the Three Mountains of Kumano (Kumano sanzan) are considered ''shintai'' and are therefore called {{nihongo|''shintaizan''|神体山|extra=''shintai'' mountain}}.<ref name="ono">Ono, Woodard (2004:100)</ref> The most widely known and renowned ''shintai'' is Mount Fuji.<ref>For details on Mount Fuji worship, see [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=786 Fuji Shinkō], Encyclopedia of Shinto.</ref>
An example of a {{nihongo|''shintaizan''|神体山}} in a Japanese new religion is {{nihongo|Mount Hongu|本宮山|Hongū-yama}} in Ayabe, Kyoto, which is sacred to the Oomoto religion. Mount Hongu is located on the grounds of Baishō-en (梅松苑), which was declared by its founders Nao Deguchi and Onisaburo Deguchi to be the spiritual center of Japan around the turn of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web | title=本宮山 | website=オニペディア | url=https://onipedia.info/wiki/%E6%9C%AC%E5%AE%AE%E5%B1%B1 | language=ja | access-date=2025-05-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=綾部・梅松苑 | website=大本 - 身魂の立替え立直し | date=2022-09-11 | url=https://www.omt.gr.jp/o67 | language=ja | access-date=2025-05-07}}</ref>
A ''yokozuna'', a wrestler at the top of sumo's power pyramid, is a living ''shintai''. For this reason, his waist is circled by a ''shimenawa'', a sacred rope which protects sacred objects from evil spirits. A kannushi, that is, a Shinto priest, can become a living ''shintai'' when a kami enters his body during religious ceremonies.
The founding of a new shrine requires the presence of either a pre-existing, naturally occurring ''shintai'' (for example a rock or waterfall housing a local ''kami''), or of an artificial one, which must therefore be procured or made to the purpose. An example of the first case are the Nachi Falls, worshiped at Hiryū Shrine near Kumano Nachi Taisha and believed to be inhabited by a ''kami'' called Hiryū Gongen.<ref name="nachi">{{cite web|url=http://www.kkr.mlit.go.jp/wakayama/rekishi/disco131.html|title=Hiryū Gongen|last=Kamizaka|first=Jirō|publisher=Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport - Kinki Regional Development Bureau|language=ja|access-date=28 March 2010}}</ref> In the second, the ''mitama'' (spirit) of a ''kami'' is divided in half through a process called ''kanjō'' and one of the halves is then stored in a ''yorishiro''. This is the process which has led to the creation of networks of shrines housing the same ''kami'', as for example the Hachiman shrine, Inari shrine or Kumano shrine networks. Because over the years the ''shintai'' is wrapped in more and more layers of precious cloth and stored in more and more boxes without being ever inspected, its exact identity may become forgotten.<ref name=bocking>{{cite book|last=Bocking|first=Brian|title=A Popular Dictionary of Shinto|year=1997|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-7007-1051-5}}</ref> The first role of a shrine is to house and protect its ''shintai'' and the ''kami'' which inhabits it.<ref name="scheid1"/> If a shrine has more than one building, the one containing the ''shintai'' is called ''honden''; because it is meant for the exclusive use of the ''kami'', it is always closed to the public and is not used for prayer or religious ceremonies. The ''shintai'' leaves the ''honden'' only during festivals (''matsuri''), when it is put in a "divine palanquin" (''mikoshi'', a term usually translated in English as "portable shrine"<ref>Progressive English-Japanese/Japanese English Dictionary, 2008, Shogakukan</ref>), and carried around the streets among the faithful.<ref name="scheid1"/> The portable shrine is used to physically protect the ''shintai'' and to hide it from sight.<ref name="scheid1">{{cite web|url=http://www.univie.ac.at/rel_jap/bauten/schrein.htm|title=Schreine|last=Scheid, Bernhard|author-link=Bernhard Scheid|publisher=University of Vienna|language=de|access-date=27 March 2010}}.</ref>
== Examples == [[File:Kayashima shrine - panoramio (1).jpg|thumb|Camphor sacred tree with shrine at the base at Kayashima Station]]
An example of the importance of a sacred tree is the 700-year-old camphor growing in the middle of Kayashima Station. Locals protested against moving the tree when the railway station had to be expanded, so the station was built around it.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mymodernmet.com/kayashima-station-camphor-tree/|title = Japanese Train Station Protectively Built Around a 700-Year-Old Tree|date = 27 January 2017}}</ref>
==See also== * Fetishism * Glossary of Shinto * Sacred tree * Tree of life * Huaca * Types of Shintai ** Iwakura rock ** Kannabi ** Shinboku * ''Yorishiro''
== References == {{Reflist}}
=== Bibliography === {{refbegin}} * ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'', [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=292 Shintai], accessed on September 20, 2009. * {{cite book | last = Sokyo Ono | first = William Woodard | author-link = William Woodard | title = Shinto: The Kami Way | publisher = Tuttle Publishing | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-8048-3557-2 }} * {{cite book | last = Smyers, Karen Ann | author-link = Karen Ann Smyers | title = The Fox and the Jewel: Shared and Private Meanings in Contemporary Japanese Inari Worship | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 1999 | location = Honolulu | isbn = 0-8248-2102-5 | oclc = 231775156 }} * {{cite book | title = Basic Terms of Shinto | publisher = Kokugakuin University, Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics | year = 1985 | location = Tokyo }} {{refend}}
{{Shinto shrine}}
Category:Shinto Category:Shinto religious objects