No-rank company

It referred to shrines that were not worthy of being ranked, but later it became the lowest rank. The Meiji shrine ranking system was divided into official shrines (official kokuheisha), prefecture shrines, and village shrines, and shrines below these were classified as village shrines that were attached to village shrines, or unranked shrines that did not even reach the rank of village shrines, but village shrines and unranked shrines were also treated as shrines. At the end of the Pacific War (1945), the number of shrines was 59,997.

[Soji Okada]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

社格に列することに値しない神社のことをいったが、のちには最下位の社格となった。明治の社格制度は、官社（官国幣社）、府県社、郷社に分かれ、これ以下の社は、郷社の付属とされた村社、村社にも至らなかった無格社とされたが、村社・無格社も社格として取り扱われた。太平洋戦争の終戦時（1945）の社数5万9997。

［岡田荘司］

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