Shinto

Tradition·Founding date unrecorded·est. ~100 million ritual participants, loosely held

Shinto → 1 branch

Branch
Rite of Shinto

The kamidana.

A miniature shrine on a high shelf holding the Ise talisman and the local shrine's, with rice, salt, water and sake set out each morning and the same two bows, two claps, one bow. The talismans are exchanged for new ones every New Year and the old ones burned. Fewer than half of households still keep one.

⏱ daily — before anything else in the morning◌ the household; usually whoever is up first
What happensFresh rice, salt, water and sake set out; the doors of the little shrine opened; two bows, two claps, one bow. Old offerings are eaten, not thrown away
What it needsA kamidana above eye level facing south or east, holding the Ise talisman and the local shrine's talisman, replaced each New Year
What it aims atTo keep the household's relationship current. Fewer than half of Japanese homes still have one, and the number falls with every apartment built
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this rite is held

The kamidana is the domestic shrine: a small wooden structure on a high shelf, above eye level, ideally facing south or east, in a quiet room and not above a door or under a toilet. It holds ofuda — talismans — from Ise and from the local shrine, replaced each New Year and the old ones returned to be burned. The daily practice is fresh rice, water, salt and often sake set out in small vessels in the morning, the doors opened, and the same two bows, two claps, one bow used at a shrine; the offerings are afterwards eaten by the family rather than discarded. Many households also keep a Buddhist butsudan for the ancestors in the same house, and the division is fairly clear — the kamidana is for the kami and for the year ahead, the butsudan is for the dead. The number of homes with a kamidana has fallen below half and continues to fall, largely because apartments have no suitable wall and because the practice depended on an older person in the house doing it.

The same ground, other faiths

rites that share this one's ideas
Three sticks at the family altar. Taoism Go deeper →
The house with the dead in it. Zoroastrianism · the interior Go deeper →
Oriki. Yoruba Religion · scripture Open the book →
The Great Being is Humanity, and most of it is dead. The Religion of Humanity · core tenet Go deeper →
Taking refuge. Buddhism Go deeper →

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