The 24th February issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article about the rebuilding of the main sanctuary of a small jinja. This jinja, Misumiyama Jinja, is on top of a low (508m) mountain, Misumiyama, in Tottori Prefecture. The old sanctuary was built in 1845, and was designated as a tangible cultural property by the city. However, in February 2022, some hikers reported that it had been completely destroyed by fire (after a lightning strike, it seems). The chief priest, Revd Tanaka, went to the site, and was able to retrieve the “gyo”, the object that houses the kami, but the complete destruction of the sanctuary was a shock.
Normally, government support is available for the repair of tangible cultural properties. However, in this case the sanctuary was totally lost, and so there were no subsidies. It seems that Misumiyama Jinja, due to being on top of a mountain, does not have its own ujiko, and so the rebuilding committee was set up by the sōdai of another jinja with the same chief priest (probably the one that is his main base, but the article does not say). The head of the local area’s ecotourism organisation, Mr Tabuchi, also got involved — he was the one who got the initial report. Fundraising seems to have been low-key, but the mountain is a popular hiking site, so it seems that they had contributions from a fairly wide area.
One practical problem was the location of the sanctuary. There are no roads up the mountain, so everything had to be carried by hand. Mr Tabuchi climbed the mountain twice a day almost every day for six months, carrying about 20 kg of scaffolding or building material every time. (That comes to several tonnes, which is the right order of magnitude.)
The whole process took almost three years, and the dedication ceremony for the new sanctuary was held on December 11th last year, with about thirty people in attendance. The “gyo” was taken from a temporary sanctuary about ten metres in front of the new sanctuary, and re-enshrined. This particular sort of matsuri is normally performed at night, but in this case it was done in the morning — I would imagine that they decided that climbing a mountain, even a small one, at night in the middle of winter was not a good idea.
This story has a happy ending, but it does capture a lot of the problems faced by small, rural jinja. Even if you have a good sanctuary that you take care of, you cannot stop it being struck by lightning or similar, and then you have to find a way to rebuild. The practical problems may be substantial, quite apart from raising money. In this case, it is quite possible that the rebuilding was only possible because Mr Tabuchi was willing to carry all the materials up the mountain. On the other hand, even very small jinja in remote areas still attract considerable support. This is why Shinto, as a whole, is still such a vibrant living tradition.