Kamidana - Kamidana

A permanent shrine set up inside each home. There are those in formal places for entertaining guests, such as the living room or the living room, and those in the family's living space, such as the hearth or the kitchen. Kamidana usually enshrines the tutelary shrine (taima) (divine talisman) of Kotaijingu (Ise) or the local deity or deities that the individual reveres, and the custom of worshiping them morning and evening by hanging a shimenawa (sacred rope) and erecting a sakaki (branch of a sacred tree) or making offerings and lamps is widespread. In Japan, the main belief was that the gods usually resided in the mountains and would visit during festivals, so there were few permanent shrines. From early times, shrines to the house gods, the house gods, and the premises gods were set up in the mansions of the nobility, and even in rural areas, there were many cases of families with deep ties to Shinto rituals setting up shrines such as Imiya, Shojinya, and Hanaya (Kagoshima Prefecture), but all of these were separate buildings. Setting up shelves in the main house has a strong meaning as a temporary festival site, as is often shown by the New Year's Toshikamidana.

The spread of Shinto altars probably came much later than the establishment of Jibutsu-do or Butsu-ma in private homes. The fact that Shinto altars came to be common in private homes alongside Buddhist altars is likely closely related to the widespread distribution of talismans by the priests of the Ise Shrine in the early modern period.

[Tatsuo Hagiwara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

各家庭の屋内に設けられた常設の祭場。その場所としては、座敷や出居(でい)など接客用のハレの場にあるものと、いろり端や台所など家族の生活の場にあるものとがある。神棚には普通、皇大神宮(こうたいじんぐう)（伊勢(いせ)）の大麻(たいま)（神符）を中心に、氏神ないし各自崇敬の神々を奉斎し、注連(しめ)縄を張り榊(さかき)を立て、あるいは神饌(しんせん)や灯明を供えるなどして、朝に夕に奉拝する習慣が行き渡っている。日本では神々は、常は山などにおり、祭りに応じて訪れ来るとの信仰が主であったから、常設の祭場は少なかった。貴族の邸宅には早くから宅神、邸内神、屋敷神の祠(ほこら)が設けられ、地方でも神事に関係の深い家筋には、斎屋(いみや)、精進屋、ハナヤ（鹿児島県）など設ける例は多かったが、いずれも別棟である。母屋(おもや)に棚を設けるというのは、新年の年神棚がよく示すように、臨時の祭り場という意味が濃い。

　邸宅に持仏堂ないし仏間が設けられたのに比べると、神棚の普及はさらに後れてのことであろう。それが仏壇と並んで民家にあまねく行き渡るようになるのは、近世初頭、皇大神宮の御師によって神符が広く配られるようになったことと深い関係があろう。

［萩原龍夫］

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