神社jinja
Quick definition:A shrine, or jinja in Japanese, is a Shinto place of worship dedicated to one or more kami, where people pray, make offerings and buy charms, and it is a very common anime setting.
Meaning
A jinja is a Shinto shrine, a sacred place dedicated to a kami, a god or spirit. Shrines vary from small roadside structures to large complexes with many buildings, and they are usually marked by a torii gate. Visitors purify their hands at a water basin, pray at the main hall and may buy charms, paper fortunes or wooden plaques on which they write wishes.
Shrines host festivals and seasonal events, such as New Year visits, summer festivals and ceremonies for children. They are often staffed by priests and by young women called miko, who assist with rituals and sell charms. Many shrines are found in towns and forests alike, forming part of ordinary life.
In anime and manga, shrines are the setting for supernatural stories, school stories and romances. A shrine family may deal with spirits, a character may work part time as a shrine maiden, or a festival may take place on the grounds. The shrine also appears in comic and heartfelt scenes involving wishes.
Origin:Jinja is written with characters meaning god and place, and the word names a site dedicated to a kami. Shrines have existed in Japan for many centuries, with some of the best-known dating back more than a thousand years. The English word shrine is used for many religious sites, which is why fans use jinja to be specific.
Example:On New Year's Day, a family queues at a local shrine, bows at the gate and throws coins into the offering box before praying for health and luck. Afterwards, the children buy small charms and draw paper fortunes, tying the unlucky ones to a rack.
Did you know?Many shrines sell ema, small wooden plaques on which visitors write wishes and hang them on a rack. The front of the plaque often has a picture, and some shrines make special versions with anime characters, which fans collect.
