Tsu jichinsai

   Ground-purification ceremony in the city of Tsu. A legal case which began in 1965 and issued in a supreme court ruling in 1977. Citizens of Tsu brought an action against their mayor claiming that he had acted unconstitutionally when he paid a Shinto priest to perform a jichinsai for a new public gymnasium. The defence was that the jichinsai is not religious. In its judgement the supreme court ruled that the jichinsai was now performed so routinely that it was indeed thoroughly 'secularised' and could not be described as religious any more. The court also ruled that not all religious activity was prohibited to the state by the Constitution of Japan, only activities that intentionally or unintentionally supported or harmed a particular religious institution. The case directly encouraged moves by the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party to seek state support or endorsement for government tribute at the Yasukuni jinja.

   See also Goshi.