Origin 1600 to 1800
A kamidana, literally a god-shelf, is the miniature household shrine kept in a Japanese home for the daily worship of the kami. Placed high on a wall in a clean and respected spot, it takes the form of a small model shrine or a simple shelf, and it houses the ofuda talismans of the deities the household honours, characteristically the Ise talisman of Amaterasu, the amulet of the local tutelary shrine, and that of any deity of particular importance to the family. The household makes daily offerings before it, typically rice, water and salt, and sometimes sake, with a bow and a clap, keeping a small domestic version of the reverence offered at the shrine. The kamidana is the Shinto counterpart of the Buddhist household altar, the butsudan, which honours the ancestors, and many homes keep both, the god-shelf for the kami and their blessings and the family altar for the dead, without any sense of conflict between them.
Facts
Use
Who May Handle ItThe household that keeps it 1 Kept and served by the household ConsecrationNot consecrated; an instrument, not a consecrated object 2 Origins
Origin Period Learn More
The God-Shelf of the Home
The kamidana, literally a god-shelf, is the miniature household shrine kept in a Japanese home for the daily worship of the kami, bringing the practice of the shrine into the dwelling.
The shrine in the house
Placed high on a wall in a clean and respected part of the home, above head height and facing a favourable direction, the kamidana is a small shrine, often modelled on the form of a shrine building, in which are enshrined the ofuda, the talismans of the deities honoured by the household, commonly including the ofuda of the Grand Shrine of Ise and of the local tutelary shrine. Before it are set simple daily offerings, rice, water, salt and sometimes sake and a sprig of sakaki, and the household greets the kami with a bow and a clap, so the shelf brings the daily approach to the kami into the ordinary life of the family.
Placement and purity
The kamidana is kept high and clean because the kami are honoured by elevation and purity, and its placement follows rules of respect, set above the level of the head and not beneath a passageway of the floor above. Many homes keep both a kamidana for the kami and a separate Buddhist altar, the butsudan, for the ancestors and the buddhas, the two coexisting in the same house in the ordinary Japanese pattern of honouring both traditions. The god-shelf thus makes the home a place of daily Shinto devotion, a domestic counterpart to the shrine, where the household maintains its own small relationship with the kami it enshrines.
Where It Sits in the House, and Who Is Allowed to Tend It
A kamidana ranges from a simple wooden shelf to a small building shaped shrine styled after famous examples such as Ise or Izumo, factory produced versions available cheaply and widely, with finer hand built ones commissioned from specialist woodworkers for households that want something more than the standard mass market design.
Placement rules
Where a kamidana is installed follows specific customary rules rather than simple convenience, placed at an elevated, clean spot, ideally facing south or east, and specifically not positioned where people would pass beneath it or above a doorway, since walking under it would be considered disrespectful.
Everyday care, and what happens when it is no longer wanted
Ordinary household members clean the kamidana and change its offerings, rice, salt, water and sometimes sake, on a regular schedule without needing a priest present, though a priest is often invited to bless a newly installed one. If a household no longer wants its kamidana, whether from moving house or a change in practice, the shrine itself and any ofuda kept within it are returned to a shrine for respectful disposal, typically ritual burning, rather than simply discarded with household waste.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The kamidana is the household shrine shelf of Japanese Shinto, the domestic counterpart to the public shrine.
Belongs to Tradition
Element Of
The household shelf carries over into the sect groups, which kept the domestic practice while organising themselves outside the shrine system.
The household shelf holds the talisman from the shrine and receives daily offerings of rice, salt and water.
Related To
The kamidana characteristically houses the Ise talisman of Amaterasu.
The kamidana is the Shinto counterpart of the Buddhist household altar, the butsudan; many homes keep both.
Sources
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