The shintai, the body of the kami, is the object in which a deity is understood to be present and which is enshrined in the inmost sanctuary of a shrine as the focus of its worship. It is not itself the kami but the vessel or seat the kami inhabits, and it is kept hidden, wrapped and unseen, often not viewed even by the priests. A shintai may be a mirror, a sword or a jewel, an object such as a stone, or, at some of the most ancient shrines, a natural feature: a whole mountain, as at the shrines where the peak itself is the object of worship, a waterfall, or a great tree or rock. The most celebrated example is the sacred mirror of Amaterasu enshrined at Ise, one of the three imperial regalia, held to be the deity's very body. Because the shintai is the point at which the kami is present, its installation consecrates a shrine and its concealment protects the holiness of the deity from the defilement of ordinary sight.
Facts
Use
Who May Handle ItClergy or ordained officiants only 1 Kept in the inner sanctuary; it is not displayed, and in many shrines it is not seen even by the priests ConsecrationConsecrated in a rite before use 2 Learn More
The Body of the God That No One May See
The shintai is the object in which a kami is present at the heart of a shrine, and its defining feature is that it is kept permanently hidden, often even from the priests.
Vessel, not deity
The shintai, the body of the kami, is not itself the deity but the vessel the deity inhabits, enshrined in the inmost sanctuary as the focus of worship and kept wrapped and unseen. It may be a mirror, a sword or a jewel, a stone, or at the most ancient shrines a natural feature, a whole mountain, a waterfall, a great tree or rock. The most celebrated is the sacred mirror of Amaterasu enshrined at Ise, one of the three imperial regalia, held to be the very body of the deity.
Concealment as protection
Because the shintai is the point at which the kami is present, its installation consecrates a shrine and its concealment protects the holiness of the deity from the defilement of ordinary sight. The logic is the reverse of the murti, which is made to be seen, bathed and dressed: the Shinto presence is guarded by being hidden. That so many shintai are natural features, a mountain or a waterfall, is also why so much of the Japanese landscape is treated as sacred, the object of worship being not a made image but the mountain itself.
What Decides Which Object a Shrine Chooses
Which physical form a shintai takes, a mirror, a sword, a jewel, a stone or a natural feature, is generally tied to the shrine's founding legend or the specific kami enshrined there, a mirror commonly associated with sun linked kami echoing the mirror among the imperial regalia, a sword with storm or warrior kami, and a stone or natural feature with a kami whose identity is bound to that particular place.
How one is established
A shrine's founding priests select and install the shintai at the time of establishment, and in some cases the object is not newly made at all but transferred from a related or parent shrine through a rite called bunrei, dividing the spirit, which extends an existing lineage of worship to a new location rather than starting one from nothing.
Permanence as the whole point
Unlike the paper and wooden objects elsewhere in Shinto practice, renewed yearly and burned without ceremony afterward, a shintai is typically never replaced once installed, wrapped in layers of cloth and boxes that may go unopened for generations, in some cases literally never opened within recorded shrine history, even by most of the shrine's own priests, a continuity of concealment that is itself the object's defining feature rather than an incidental detail.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Element Of
The object in which the deity is enshrined is not itself the deity and is not shown, often not even to the priesthood.
Instances
The mirror at Ise is the shintai (sacred body) in which Amaterasu is present.
Related To
The yorishiro concept is close to that of the shintai, the permanent enshrined seat of a kami, though the yorishiro is often a temporary vessel.
Sacred To
The most celebrated shintai is the sacred mirror of Amaterasu enshrined at Ise, one of the three imperial regalia.
Sources
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