As I have mentioned before, preparations for the next Shikinen Sengū at Isë Jingū, which is expected to be held in 2033, have begun. Last year was concerned with preliminaries, but if things follow the normal schedule the first two matsuri, the Yamaguchisai and Konomotosai, will be performed in May this year.
The Shikinen Sengū is an enormous job, involving not only the rebuilding of the main sanctuaries, but also the crafting, following the traditional specifications, of hundreds of sacred treasures. Managing this process is also an enormous job, and so, on January 1st, Jingū established the Jingū Shikinen Zōeichō (Jingū Shikinen Implementation Office). This is headed, officially, by the Daigūji (Great Chief Priest) of Jingū, and, on a day-to-day basis, by the Shōgūji (Lesser Chief Priest). In this, it is like Jingū itself. Further, according to an article about it in the January 13th issue of Jinja Shinpō, written by someone at Jingū, most of the staff are employees of Jingū. The exceptions are specialists, which probably means architects and the like. I do not think that the craftspeople who create the sacred treasures and the sanctuaries are actually on staff at the Zōeichō, although I might be wrong about that. (I think there are too many of them for it still to be true that most of the staff are employees of Jingū if they are on staff at the Zōeichō, but maybe that changes during the process. We may find out as time goes on, or they may simply not mention such administrative details.)
Traditionally, the Shikinen Sengū was managed by the Japanese state on behalf of the Tennō. Thus, the historical equivalent of the Zōeichō was a government agency. This changed after the war, when all Shinto rituals were separated from the state. The first post-war Shikinen Sengū was scheduled for 1949, and preparations had therefore already started — the Yamaguchisai was presumably performed in 1941, for example. Defeat and occupation made it impossible to complete the ceremony on schedule, and the government was unable to provide the remaining necessary funds. Jingū, and Jinja Honchō, therefore decided to try to raise the money from the population.
This was a lot more successful than they expected. Funds were raised, and the ceremonies were completed only four years late, in 1953. The twenty-year cycle has since started from that date, which is why the next one is planned for 2033, and they are now funded entirely by popular donations, and managed entirely by Jingū itself, with no governmental involvement. The Tennō has, typically, made donations, including donations in kind of silk raised by the Empress, and that may well happen this time as well. I strongly suspect that members of the government also make donations in a personal capacity, but there is nothing official. A lot of the funding comes from the annual distribution of Jingū Taima, the sacred plaques from Jingū, but there is also separate fundraising specifically for the Shikinen Sengū.
I expect to be writing more about administrative issues, but I hope that most of my articles on the Shikinen Sengū will be about the matsuri and related events.