PRE-BUDDHIST SHINTO SHRINES
2-1 Reconstruction of a Yayoi Period (300 BCE or earlier - 300 CE) village at the Osaka Prefectural Museum of Yayoi Culture. The building with the light front may have been an early shrine.
2-2 Izumo Shrine, the oldest in Japan
2-3 Izumo Shrine is periodically reconstructed, as shown in this 2012 photograph
2-4 Main compound at Ise Jingu, the imperial shrines dating back to prehistoric times. Beginning in the 7th century, the shrine has been rebuilt every 20 years, a major effort involving 65 buildings and 16,000 artifacts.
2-5 Subsidiary building at Ise. The small structure on the right indicates where the replacement for the shrine on the left will be reconstructed after 20 years.
2-6 Subsidiary building at Ise, located in a forest
2-7 Interior of a shrine in Takahiho, Kyushu, where the grandson of the sun goddess descended to earth. The mirror in a Shinto shrine is one of the three symbols of divine authority, the other two being the sword and the jewel.
POST-BUDDHIST SHRINES
2-8 Main sanctuary at Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island, dating to the late 6th century
2-9 Y asaka Shrine in Kyoto, founded in 656
2-10 Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto, dedicated to the kami of thunder. Founded in 678
2-11 Torii (gates) at Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto, dedicated to the fox kami. Established in 711
2-12 Shinto priest officiating at a Shinto ceremony
2-13 Tanzan Shrine in Sakurai, originating in early Shinto-Buddhist syncretism. Designated as a purely Shinto shrine in 1868.
2-14 Yomeimon Gate at Toshogu, Nikko, where the ashes of Tokugawa Ieyaseu are enshrined.
2-15 Famous three monkeys at the Sacred Stables, Toshogu Shrine
2-16 Kashihara Jingu, Kashihara. Constructed in 1889 to enshrine the legendary first emperor, Jimmu, and consort. Built in the style of a palace
2-17 Kasuga Shrine, Nara
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