Clergy and religious life
Priests and shrine roles in Shinto
Shinto has no founder, no single scripture and no priesthood in the sense of a sacramental order. Its clergy, the shinshoku, are the staff of shrines (jinja), where they care for the kami, the deities or sacred presences enshrined there, and perform rites of purification, offering and prayer on behalf of the community. Most shrines in Japan, about eighty thousand of them, belong to the Association of Shinto Shrines (Jinja Honchō), founded in 1946 after the end of State Shinto. The association certifies priests, who usually qualify through study at Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Kōgakkan University in Ise or a training institute, and assigns them grades that are shown in the colour of their dress. Within each shrine the staff hold working titles, from chief priest down to junior priest. Priests may marry, many belong to families that have served the same shrine for generations, and women have been ordained since the years after the Second World War. Shrine maidens assist the priests but are not themselves clergy.
- The chief priest
- Shrine priests
- Shrine maidens
Orders and states of life
The chief priest
Every shrine with resident staff has a chief priest, the gūji, who is responsible for its rites, buildings and finances. A large shrine may also have a deputy, the gon-gūji. At small rural shrines one gūji often serves many shrines at once, visiting each for its festivals, and may combine the post with another profession.
Shrine priests
Below the gūji serve the negi and the junior gon-negi, who carry out daily offerings, purifications, blessings and festival rites. In everyday speech any of them may be called a kannushi. Separately from these working titles, the Jinja Honchō ranks each priest in one of six grades, from the special grade (tokkyū) through first, second-upper, second, third and fourth.
Shrine maidens
Miko are young women who assist at shrines. They help with ceremonies, sell amulets and prayer plaques, greet worshippers and perform the sacred dance (kagura) offered to the kami. Most serve for a few years, often as students or part-time staff, and leave the role on marriage or in their twenties. They receive training but are not ordained.
The chief priest
Chief priest (Gūji)
gūji (Japanese, 宮司)
Addressed as Gūji, used as a title after the surname (e.g. *Tanaka Gūji*)
The gūji is the head of a shrine, appointed by the president of the Jinja Honchō on the recommendation of the shrine’s lay representatives, or by the shrine itself if it stands outside the association. He or she leads the major festivals, reads the formal prayers (norito) before the kami and represents the shrine to its parishioners and to the wider community. At many shrines the office passes from parent to child. The highest grades are held by the heads of great shrines such as Meiji Jingū and Izumo Taisha.
What the figure wears
- Formal robe hō (袍), worn in the ikan (衣冠) style
A loose, round-necked outer robe with very wide sleeves, in black or deep purple woven with a pattern; its colour indicates the wearer’s grade.
- White hakama hakama (袴)
Wide, pleated trousers of white silk worn beneath the robe; white with a white woven crest is reserved for priests of the special grade (tokkyū).
- Court cap kanmuri (冠)
A tall black lacquered headdress with a stiff tail (ei) rising and falling behind, worn with formal dress and modelled on the caps of the ancient court nobility.
- Baton shaku (笏)
A flat, slightly tapering baton of plain wood held upright in both hands before the chest, a mark of dignity derived from the dress of court officials.
- Outside services
- Formal dress is kept for the great festivals. For ordinary rites the gūji wears the simpler *jōe* or *kariginu* with an eboshi, and in the shrine office often a plain white kimono and hakama.
- Insignia
- Grade is shown through dress: the colour and pattern of the robe and hakama, rather than any badge or staff.
Shrine priests
Shrine priest (Kannushi)
kannushi (神主); negi (禰宜), gon-negi (権禰宜); shinshoku (神職)
Addressed as Addressed by surname with *-san*; titles such as Negi follow the name in formal use
The shrine priest performs the daily round of a shrine: morning offerings of rice, salt, water and sake, the cleaning of sacred spaces, and rites requested by visitors, such as blessings for newborn children, cars, businesses and building sites. Central to every rite is purification (harae), which removes impurity (kegare) before the kami can be approached. Priests also take part in the annual festivals (matsuri). Today a significant share of priests are women, many of them wives or daughters of priestly families.
What the figure wears
- Hunting robe jōe (浄衣), a form of kariginu (狩衣)
A white robe with round neck and wide sleeves, open at the sides for free movement and based on the hunting dress of the Heian nobility.
- Hakama hakama (袴)
Wide, pleated trousers in pale blue (asagi), the colour of the junior grades, or white, worn beneath the robe and tied at the waist.
- Tall cap eboshi (烏帽子)
A tall, rounded black cap of stiffened, lacquered material, worn with everyday vestments in place of the formal court cap.
- Purification wand ōnusa (大幣) or haraegushi (祓串)
A wooden stick hung with many zigzag streamers of white paper (shide), waved left, right and left over people or objects to purify them.
- Outside services
- Outside rites, priests work in the shrine office in a white kimono and hakama, or in ordinary clothes. Many priests of small shrines also hold other jobs, such as teaching or office work.
- Insignia
- None beyond dress; hakama colour indicates grade, and the ōnusa marks the act of purification.
Shrine maidens
Shrine maiden (Miko)
miko (巫女)
Addressed as Addressed by name; no formal title
In early Japan miko were women who served the kami and, in some traditions, spoke for them in trance. In modern shrines the role is that of an assistant. Miko prepare offerings, help priests during ceremonies, pour sacred sake at weddings and staff the counters where amulets (omamori) and votive plaques (ema) are given out. Their best-known duty is kagura, the sacred dance performed for the kami, in which they move slowly, often shaking bells or holding a branch of the sacred sakaki tree.
What the figure wears
- White upper robe kosode (小袖); sometimes called haori
A white kimono-style upper garment with sleeves, crossed at the front and tucked into the hakama, symbolising purity.
- Red hakama hibakama (緋袴)
Bright red or vermilion pleated trousers or divided skirt, tied high at the waist; the colour most associated with shrine maidens.
- Hair tie takenaga (丈長) or mizuhiki (水引)
Long hair gathered at the back of the neck and tied with white paper or a white ribbon, often falling in a single length behind.
- Kagura bells kagura suzu (神楽鈴)
A cluster of small bells on a short handle, hung with long streamers in five colours, shaken in rhythm during the sacred dance.
- Outside services
- Outside work miko wear ordinary clothes; many are students. For kagura a white over-robe (*chihaya*) and a flower headdress are sometimes added.
- Insignia
- The red and white dress itself is the recognised sign of the role.
Questions people ask
Can Shinto priests marry?
Yes. Shinto has never required celibacy, and most priests marry and raise families. This is one reason why priesthood often runs in families: a shrine is commonly passed from parent to child, and children of priestly families are encouraged to train at Kokugakuin or Kōgakkan. Shrine dwellings are often within or beside the precincts. Because many shrines cannot support a full-time priest, it is common for the family to combine shrine duties with other work.
Can women be Shinto priests?
Yes. In early Japan women held important ritual roles, but in later centuries the priesthood became largely male. During and after the Second World War, when many male priests died or were absent, women took over their shrines, and the Jinja Honchō has certified women priests since its early years. Women now make up a minority of priests, and they have their own forms of vestments. The ritual head of Ise Jingū, the *saishu*, is traditionally a woman of, or born into, the imperial family.
Are miko priestesses?
Not in the modern sense. Miko are shrine assistants who help with rites, sell amulets and perform kagura, but they are not ordained and do not lead rituals or read the formal prayers. Most are young, unmarried women who serve for a few years. Historically the word also covered female mediums who communicated with the kami, and some independent shamanic traditions, such as the blind *itako* of northern Japan, continued outside the shrine system.
What is the purpose of the ōnusa?
The ōnusa is the wand used in *harae*, purification, the rite with which Shinto ceremonies begin. Impurity, *kegare*, is understood not as moral sin but as a kind of pollution that separates people from the kami and from vitality, arising from things such as death, illness or wrongdoing. The priest waves the wand over the worshippers or the object to be blessed, left, right and left, while they bow their heads.
What is the Association of Shinto Shrines?
The Jinja Honchō was founded in 1946, when the Allied occupation ended state support for shrines and Shinto had to reorganise as a private religion. It is headquartered in Tokyo and regards Ise Jingū as its central shrine. It trains and certifies priests, sets the grades and dress of the clergy, and advises member shrines. A small number of major shrines, such as Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, are independent of it.
Sources and further reading
- Shinto: A History – Helen Hardacre (Oxford University Press, 2017)
- A New History of Shinto – John Breen and Mark Teeuwen (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
- Shinto: A Short History – Inoue Nobutaka (ed.), trans. Mark Teeuwen and John Breen (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003)
- Shinto: The Kami Way – Sokyo Ono (Charles E. Tuttle, 1962)