Gohei御幣, 御幣, or 幣束 are wooden wands, decorated with two (zigzagging paper streamers) used in Shinto rituals. It may be considered an Ōnusa with only two Shide. The streamers are usually white, although they can also be gold, silver, jade, or a mixture of several colors, and are often attached as decorations to straw ropes () used to mark sacred precincts. The shrine priest or attendants () use the to bless or sanctify a person or object in various Shinto rituals.
TamagushiTamagushi is a form of Shinto offering made from a sakaki-tree branch decorated with shide strips of washi paper, silk, or cotton. At Japanese weddings, funerals, miyamairi and other ceremonies at Shinto shrines, tamagushi are ritually presented to the kami (spirits or gods) by parishioners, shrine maidens or kannushi priests. The Japanese word tamagushi is usually written with the kanji tama 玉 "jade; gem; jewel; precious; ball; bead" and kushi 串 "string together; skewer; spit; stick", or sometimes written 玉ぐし with hiragana since the official Tōyō kanji do not include 串.
Haraeor (祓 or 祓い) is the general term for ritual purification in Shinto. is one of four essential elements involved in a Shinto ceremony. The purpose is the purification of pollution or sins () and uncleanness (). These concepts include bad luck and disease as well as guilt in the English sense. is often described as purification, but it is also known as an exorcism to be done before worship. often involves symbolic washing with water, or having a Shinto priest shake a large paper shaker called or over the object of purification.
Kegareis the Japanese term for a state of pollution and defilement, important particularly in Shinto as a religious term. Typical causes of kegare are the contact with any form of death, childbirth (for both parents), disease, and menstruation, and acts such as rape. In Shinto, kegare is a form of tsumi (taboo violation), which needs to be somehow remedied by the person responsible. This condition can be remedied through purification rites called misogi and harae.
ŌnusaAn 大幣 or simply 幣 or 大幣 is a wooden wand traditionally used in Shinto purification rituals. Ōnusa are decorated with a number of shide (paper streamers). When the shide are attached to a hexagonal or octagonal staff, the wand is also known as a 祓串. The word Taima also refers to cannabis in the Japanese language. Nusa is an old word for cannabis. The Jingū Taima is a type of ōnusa. although they are often used in different ways than normal Onusa, usually kept in envelopes.
MikoA 巫女, or shrine maiden, is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. Miko were once likely seen as shamans, but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perform tasks, ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the sacred Kagura dance. Miko clothing The traditional attire of a miko is a pair of red 緋袴 (divided, pleated trousers), a white kosode (a predecessor of the kimono), and some white or red hair ribbons. In Shinto, the color white symbolizes purity.
ShintaiIn Shinto, shintai, or go-shintai when the honorific prefix go- is used, are physical objects worshipped at or near Shinto shrines as repositories in which spirits or kami reside. Shintai used in Shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto) can be also called mitamashiro. In spite of what their name may suggest, shintai are not themselves part of kami, but rather just temporary repositories which make them accessible to human beings for worship. Shintai are also of necessity yorishiro, that is objects by their very nature capable of attracting kami.
Shinto shrineA Shinto shrine is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, the deities of the Shinto religion. The honden (本殿, meaning: "main hall") is where a shrine's patron kami is/are enshrined. The honden may be absent in cases where a shrine stands on or near a sacred mountain, tree, or other object which can be worshipped directly or in cases where a shrine possesses either an altar-like structure, called a himorogi, or an object believed to be capable of attracting spirits, called a yorishiro, which can also serve as direct bonds to a kami.
ShintoShinto (神道) is a religion originating from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves. There is no central authority in control of Shinto, with much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the kami (神).
Kamiare the deities, divinities, spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena, or holy powers that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and/or the spirits of venerated dead people. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans (some ancestors became kami upon their death if they were able to embody the values and virtues of kami in life). Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami.
