The Kamidana: Japan's Household Shinto Shrine
Where a Buddhist altar honours the dead, the kamidana, literally the shelf of the gods, honours the kami of Shinto. It is a miniature shrine set high on a wall in homes, shops, workshops and even boats, and it holds talismans from the shrines a family trusts. Many Japanese households keep both a kamidana and a butsudan without any sense of contradiction.
The shrine itself
The central element is the miyagata, a scaled-down shrine building usually made of unpainted Japanese cypress (hinoki), prized for its pale grain and clean scent. The two common forms are:
- Ikkensha: a single-door shrine, compact and suited to small rooms.
- Sankensha: a three-door shrine with a central bay and two side bays, holding several talismans side by side.
Fine examples reproduce real shrine architecture in miniature, with curved roofs, crossed finials (chigi), ridge logs (katsuogi) and copper or brass fittings.
Arranging the ofuda
An ofuda is a paper or wooden talisman issued by a shrine. In a three-door kamidana the custom is to place the talisman of Ise Grand Shrine (Jingū Taima) in the centre, that of the local guardian shrine to its right as you face it, and that of any other shrine the family reveres to its left. In a single-door shrine the talismans are stacked, with Ise at the front. Ofuda are traditionally renewed each year and the old ones returned to a shrine to be burned.
Where it is placed
- High on the wall, above head height, in a clean and bright room.
- Facing south or east, towards the light.
- Not above a doorway people pass through, nor beneath a room where people walk. Where there is an upper floor, a paper bearing the character for cloud, kumo, is sometimes fixed to the ceiling above, signalling that nothing but sky lies over the shrine.
Implements and offerings
- Shinkyō: a round bronze mirror on a stand, placed before the shrine.
- Sakaki: evergreen branches in a pair of white vases.
- Heishi: a pair of white sake flasks.
- Mizutama: a small lidded jar for water.
- Hiraka: flat dishes for rice and salt.
- Shimenawa: a twisted straw rope hung across the shelf, with zigzag paper streamers (shide) marking the sacred space.
Collecting antique kamidana
Old kamidana from the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa eras show remarkable joinery and sometimes carved or lacquered detail far beyond modern pieces. Large shrines from merchant houses and workshops are particularly prized. Look for:
- Original roof sections and finials, which are the first parts to be lost.
- Intact doors that open and close smoothly.
- Metal fittings with natural patina.
- Wood that has mellowed evenly to honey or grey rather than been stained.
Antique kamidana are delicate. They travel well only when every finial and door is wrapped separately and the shrine is braced inside its crate.
Questions collectors ask
Can I display a kamidana without ofuda?
Yes. As a work of architecture in miniature it stands on its own. If you would like to use it as intended, many shrines in Japan issue ofuda to visitors.
Can a kamidana and a Buddhist altar share a room?
They can, though they are not placed directly facing each other or one above the other.