Enter Through the Form

Explore Japan

Authors Meryl Meisler & Francine LaPorte

Photography & Video Meryl Meisler

Shinto Temples and Shrines consist of several halls.

The Honden (Main Hall) is where the tutelary g-d is said to reside and is therefore inaccessible to all except the priests. This lends a quality of a hidden or sacred mystery transcending mortal capacity.

The Haiden (Worship Hall), which is characterized by a receptacle for offerings, a straw rope and bell for the worshipper. There are many important annual rituals, as well as those marking special occasions such as birth, school exams, buying a new car, and marriage requiring attendance at Shinto Shrines. This is accessed through a Torii (Gate), through which one passes after purifying hands and mouth with water from a fountain. The Torii consist of two verticals connected by two horizontals, of which the uppermost curves upward at the edges, suggestive of a bird’s wings in flight. This gate forms the demarcation point between the sacred and the profanes realms. Most of the Shinto Shrines contain several steps up or more to reach the Haiden.One often notices guardians at the Torii, usually horses, as they are important in Shinto or as the fox at Fushimi Inari, a shrine with hundreds of red Torii forming a sort of tunnel up a mountain.

Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto is a raised structure reflecting ancient native building styles unlike the ground level Chinese style that accompanied Buddhism from India, China, and Korea. The roof reveals a graceful arc with upturned eaves.

The Gion Matsuri (festival) takes place at the Yasaka Shrine every July

Kasuga Shrine is a raised shrine structure. As one worships, one can glimpse the structure of the Honden within, reminding us that all is not revealed to us and that we must pay attention to those concerns in the human realm—our world. There is a tree growing through one of the buildings. It is hundreds, seven perhaps, of years old. The priest explained that it was venerated and would never be cut away, rather the building made concessions to the natural world.