Shinto architecture
The entrances themselves are straddled by gates called torii, which are therefore the simplest way to identify a Shinto shrine.
[2] After the forcible separation of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines (shinbutsu bunri) ordered by the new government in the Meiji period, the connection between the two religions was officially severed, but continued nonetheless in practice.
The practice of marking sacred areas began in Japan as early as the Yayoi period (from about 500 BC to 300 AD) originating from primal Shinto tenets.
Features in the landscape such as rocks, waterfalls, islands, and especially mountains, were places believed to be capable of attracting kami, and subsequently were worshiped as yorishiro.
[3] Originally, sacred places may have been simply marked with a surrounding fence and an entrance gate or torii.
[4] Later, temporary buildings similar to present day portable shrines[5] were constructed to welcome the gods to the sacred place.
[3][4] The buildings had gabled roofs, raised floors, plank walls, and were thatched with reed or covered with hinoki cypress bark.
[3] Three important forms of ancient shrine architectural styles exist: taisha-zukuri, shinmei-zukuri, and sumiyoshi-zukuri.
[9] According to the tradition of Shikinen sengū-sai (式年遷宮祭), the buildings or shrines were faithfully rebuilt at regular intervals adhering to the original design.
[12] A shrine may have any number of torii (Fushimi Inari Taisha has thousands) made of wood, stone, metal, concrete or any other material.
[14] Its point of origin is usually straddled in the first case by a Shinto torii, in the second by a Buddhist sanmon, gates which mark the beginning of the shrine's or temple territory.
Before entering the shrine, visitors are supposed to wash their hands and mouths at a fountain built to the purpose called chōzuya or temizuya.
They were so called because they were thought to have been brought to Japan from China via Korea, and their name derives from koma (高麗), the Japanese term for the Korean kingdom of Koguryo.
The open mouth is pronouncing the first letter of the sanskrit alphabet ("a"), the closed one the last ("um"), representing the beginning and the end of all things.
The honden, also called shinden (神殿) is the most sacred building of shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined kami.
The honden's roof is always gabled, and some styles also have a veranda-like aisle called hisashi (a 1-ken wide corridor surrounding one or more sides of the core of a shrine or temple).
Sometimes the basic layout consisting of an elevated core (母屋, moya) partially surrounded by a veranda called hisashi (all under the same roof) is modified by the addition of a room in front of the entrance.
Structural details also show a strong relationship with the Heian period style called shinden-zukuri used in aristocratic residences.
[27] Hiyoshi-zukuri / hie-zukuri' (日吉造), also called shōtei-zukuri / shōtai-zukuri (聖帝造) or sannō-zukuri (山王造) is a rare style presently found in only three instances, all at Hiyoshi Taisha in Ōtsu, Shiga.
It was originally used in the Kon-dō and Kō-dō (lecture halls) of Buddhist temples, but started to be used also in shrines later, during the Japanese Middle Ages.
[29] Ishi-no-ma-zukuri (石の間造), also called gongen-zukuri (権現造), yatsumune-zukuri (八棟造) and miyadera-zukuri (宮寺造) is the name of a complex shrine structure in which the haiden, or worship hall, and the honden, or main sanctuary, are interconnected under the same roof in the shape of an H.[31] The connecting passage can be called ai-no-ma (相の間), ishi-no-ma (石の間), or chūden (中殿, intermediate hall).
[32] Kibitsu-zukuri (吉備津造), kibi-zukuri (吉備造) or hiyoku irimoya-zukuri (入母屋造) is a style characterized by four dormer gables, two per lateral side, on the roof of a very large honden (sanctuary).
[13] The gables are set at a right angle to the main roof ridge, and the honden is part of a single complex also including a haiden (worship hall).
[33] Apart from the lack of a staircase, such shrines belong to the nagare-zukuri or kasuga-zukuri styles and have their entrance on the non-gabled (hirairi) or gabled side (tsumairi).
[34] The roof is covered with layers of cypress bark shingles and has a high ridge with an ornamental rather than functional role.
Owari-zukuri (尾張造) is a complex style found in large shrines of what used to be called Owari province, near Nagoya.
[23] It features many structures within the same compound, among them a honden, a haiden, a tsuriwata-rō (a suspended passageway), a yotsuashimon (a gate built with four pillars), and other buildings.
Built in planed, unfinished wood, the honden is either 3x2 ken or 1x1ken in size, has a raised floor, a gabled roof with an entry on one the non-gabled sides, no upward curve at the eaves, and decorative logs called chigi and katsuogi protruding from the roof's ridge.
[23] Because its floor is raised on stilts, it is believed to have its origin in raised-floor granaries similar to those found in Toro, Shizuoka prefecture.
The oldest extant example of the style is Kamosu Jinja's honden in Shimane Prefecture, built in the 16th century.
