This is part 9 of my series on Shinto as a civil religion, you can find the other parts here.
At the same time as Shinto’s separation from Buddhism, other changes were made to Shinto’s ritual practices. The reformation started in 1868, but really took off after Urata Chōmin became appointed to Jingikan (Chamber of gods) while being the head priest of the Ise Shrine.
The changes started with the Ise Shrine, which is the most important shrine in Shinto even to this day. From 1868 the royal family started sending a member to the Ise-Shrine to take part in the larger rituals. Besides this, the reform cleansed all rituals from Shinto, which couldn’t be supported in some way by the Nihon Shogi or Kojiki. Instead, ancient rituals which had fallen out of fashion were reinstated. At the same time, the people working at Ise were all fired, and others were hired in their stead, and a new ranking of shrines was put in place. These ranks were: Official Shrines, Unofficial Shrines, and Un-ranked Shrines. Besides this, the Official Shrines had lower ranks such as Imperial Shrines, National Shrines, and Special Shrines. The other two ranks also had lower ranks, which were: Large, Medium, and Small. These ranks were relevant to the shrines’ stately stipend.
The Shrines’ land was also claimed by the government. It now became law that all newborns were to be given a talisman from the Ise-Shrine, that they had to keep until death. At their death, it would be returned to the local shrine. From 1868 this was used as a kind of census, but it turned out to be inefficient and stopped. The people were still assigned a shrine from birth, which resulted in a closer bond between the people and the shrines.
The point of these changes where to get Shinto organized and to bring the people closer to this “new” religion.
In the next post, we will look closer at another, bigger effort from the government to bring Shinto to the forefront of the people’s minds. Follow me on Instagram to get the updates as they come out.
Sources
Hardacre, Helen. Shinto: a History. Oxford University Press: New York, 2016.
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