Jinja shinto

   'Shrine Shinto'. One of a number of modern academic terms used in both the administration and analysis of Shinto (see Kokka Shinto, Kyoha Shinto, Minzoku shinto etc.). In the Shinto Directive it was one of the synonyms of 'state Shinto'. It has been defined by the Jinja Honcho as 'the traditional religious practices carried on in shrines throughout Japan's history, as well as the attitudes to life which suppport these practices'. Critics have suggested that using even the term 'Shinto' in its modern sense to refer to the past is problematic. Shinto since 1945 has been different from the so-called 'kokka shinto' (state Shinto) of 1868-1945, and Meiji 'Shinto' in turn differed markedly from the socio-religious arrangements of Japan in the preceding eras when the term 'Shinto' had different meanings and shrine practices were incorporated within a predominantly Buddhist world-view (see Shinto). It is probably advisable to reserve the term 'shrine shinto' for the form of Shinto which has existed since 1945 in Japan in which shrines are on the same constitutional footing as all other religious institutions, have no doubt carried forward from prewar days an expectation of centralised guidance, but are financially independent of the state and are no longer guided by government decrees. In this sense 'shrine Shinto' means the beliefs and practices currently associated with the shrines, particularly those who look to the Jinja Honcho for guidance.