Kannushi and Miko: Shinto Priests and Shrine Maidens

A kannushi is a Shinto priest, a ritual specialist who serves the kami of a shrine by presenting offerings, reciting prayers and performing purifications on behalf of a community. Miko, usually translated "shrine maidens", are women who assist at shrines and perform sacred dance; in earlier centuries the word also named female spirit mediums. Neither is a pastor or preacher in the Christian sense: Shinto clergy are above all guardians of correct ritual and of the purity of the shrine.

Kannushi, Shinshoku and the Shrine Priesthood§

The word kannushi originally meant the head of the ritual personnel at a particular shrine, the person who "held" or "served" the kami. Over time it became a general term for any Shinto priest. The official word now is shinshoku, "kami official". Large shrines have a hierarchy headed by a gūji (chief priest), assisted by a gon-gūji (deputy), several negi (senior priests) and gon-negi (junior priests). Small shrines may have no resident priest at all and are visited by a priest who serves dozens of shrines in a district.

Shinto priests may marry and raise families, and many shrines still pass from parent to child in practice. In rural areas a priest often has another occupation, such as teaching or office work, and serves the shrines at festivals and on request. The everyday care of village shrines is frequently in the hands of lay parishioners (ujiko) and their representatives. The general setting of shrine life is described in Shinto shrines and purification.

Priestly Lineages from the Yamato Court to the Edo Period§

In the early Japanese state, ritual was the business of specialised lineages. The Nakatomi recited the ritual prayers (norito) at court; from a branch of this family came the Fujiwara, who dominated Heian politics. The Inbe (also written Imbe) prepared offerings and ritual objects and avoided pollution on behalf of the court; their complaint that they had been sidelined by the Nakatomi survives in the Kogo shūi of 807. The Urabe practised divination by heating tortoise shells, a technique imported from the continent. The Department of Divinities (Jingikan) established under the legal codes of the early eighth century coordinated these families and the offerings sent to official shrines, which the Engishiki of 927 lists.

Great shrines had their own hereditary priestly houses: the Arakida at the Inner Shrine and the Watarai at the Outer Shrine of Ise, the Senge and Kitajima at Izumo, whose heads bore the ancient title of kokuzō (provincial governor), and the Aso in Kyushu. Many of these families claimed descent from kami themselves.

In the medieval period, when Buddhist monks managed many shrines, priestly authority was shared with temple clergy, as explained in Shinto and Buddhism. From the fifteenth century the Yoshida family, an Urabe branch, built a national network by issuing licences to local priests and ranks to kami, and in 1665 the Tokugawa shogunate's regulations for shrine priests confirmed their authority over priests without court ranks. The rival Shirakawa house, hereditary heads of the old Department of Divinities, competed with them for clients.

The Meiji government swept this system away. In 1871 it declared shrines to be sites of state ritual, abolished hereditary succession to priestly office and placed appointments under government control, part of the reforms that followed the separation of kami and buddhas.

Training, Ranks and Vestments of Modern Priests§

After 1945 shrines became private religious corporations, and most joined the Association of Shinto Shrines (Jinja Honchō), founded in 1946. The Association certifies priests through a system of grades (kaii), from the lowest, chokkai, to the highest, jōkai, and assigns status classes that determine vestment colours. Candidates usually study at one of two universities with Shinto departments, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo and Kōgakkan University in Ise, or at shrine-based training institutes; the course covers classical texts, ritual practice, liturgical composition and shrine administration. A small number of shrines remain outside the Association.

Priestly dress derives from the court costume of the Heian period. For ordinary rites a priest wears a white or pale robe (jōe or kariginu, originally hunting garments), wide trousers (hakama) whose colour indicates rank, from pale blue through purple to purple with white crests, a black lacquered cap (eboshi) or for grand ceremonies a formal crown (kanmuri), and black lacquered wooden shoes. He or she carries a flat wooden baton (shaku), originally used by courtiers to hold notes. The haraegushi or ōnusa, a wooden wand hung with streamers of folded white paper (shide) or hemp, is waved over people and objects to purify them.

What Priests Do: Offerings, Norito and Purification§

The core of a priest's work is the shrine's ritual calendar. Daily offerings of rice, salt and water, and sometimes sake, fish and vegetables, are presented at the main hall. At festivals the priest purifies the participants, opens the doors of the inner sanctuary, presents offerings (shinsen), recites a norito in classical Japanese addressing the kami by name and stating the purpose of the rite, and offers a tamagushi, a branch of the sacred sakaki tree tied with paper streamers. The offerings are then removed, the doors closed, and the participants often share the sacred food and sake in a feast (naorai), described in Shinto festivals.

Before major rites priests undergo periods of abstinence (saikai), avoiding pollution, certain foods and, traditionally, contact with death. Priests also perform rites on request: purification of new cars and buildings, groundbreaking ceremonies (jichinsai) to pacify the kami of a site, prayers for safe childbirth, exam success or business prosperity, weddings, and the blessing of children at the shichi-go-san festival. These "worldly benefits" are an important part of shrine income and of the common religion of Japan. Shinto funerals exist, but because of the association of death with pollution, most Japanese funerals are conducted by Buddhist priests.

Miko: From Spirit Mediums to Shrine Maidens§

In ancient Japan, women played central roles in communication with the kami. Chinese records of the third century describe a female ruler of Wa, Himiko, who practised what they called "the way of demons" and lived in seclusion, and the myths credit women such as Yamatohime and the dancer Ame no Uzume with founding sacred institutions; Amaterasu's own priestess at Ise is discussed in Amaterasu Ōmikami. The term miko was applied both to women attached to shrines, who danced and served the kami, and to independent mediums who entered trance, allowed kami or the dead to speak through them, and travelled from village to village.

Carmen Blacker's classic study The Catalpa Bow describes the later forms of this tradition, from the azusa miko who summoned spirits with the twang of a catalpa-wood bow to the blind itako of the Tōhoku region, who after severe ascetic training became able to transmit messages from the dead, famously at the summer festival of Mount Osore. Such mediumship belongs to the wider world of shamanism and possession. In 1873 the Meiji government banned miko from practising mediumship and spirit-calling as superstition, and the practitioners who continued did so outside the official shrine system.

The modern shrine miko is a different figure. She is usually a young unmarried woman, often a student working part-time, especially at New Year, dressed in a white robe and scarlet hakama. She helps with rites, sells amulets and charms, and performs miko-mai (also called kagura-mai), elegant dances with bells, fans or sakaki branches. Many shrines perform the Urayasu no mai, a dance created for the national celebrations of 1940. At some shrines the daughters of priestly families serve as miko before training as priests themselves.

Women, Change and the Future of Shrine Service§

Women had been excluded from the professional priesthood created by the Meiji reforms, but the shortage of men during and after the Second World War led shrines to accept women, and the Association of Shinto Shrines has certified female priests since the early postwar years. Women now make up a growing minority of priests, many of them wives or daughters of priests who keep family shrines open. They still face limits on promotion to the highest posts at major shrines, a subject studied by scholars of gender in Japanese religion.

The wider challenge is demographic. With rural depopulation, many shrines cannot support a priest, and the number of priests serving multiple shrines has grown. Writers such as John K. Nelson have described how urban priests adapt traditions to new audiences, while others emphasise continuity of ritual as the core of the priesthood. Behind the variety lies the conviction, shared by priests and parishioners, that the kami must be served correctly and in purity.

Frequently asked questions§

What is the difference between a kannushi and a miko?§

A kannushi is a qualified Shinto priest who leads rites, recites prayers and administers a shrine. A miko is a shrine maiden who assists in rites, performs sacred dance and helps worshippers; she is usually not ordained, though some later train as priests.

Can Shinto priests marry?§

Yes. Shinto has no rule of celibacy, and priests commonly marry and have children. Many shrines have long been passed down within priestly families, although hereditary succession has had no legal standing since 1871.

Can women become Shinto priests?§

Yes. Women have been certified as priests since the years after the Second World War and now serve at many shrines, though they remain a minority, especially among chief priests of major shrines.

What does a miko wear?§

A shrine miko traditionally wears a white kimono-style upper robe (hakui) and bright red pleated trousers (hakama), with her hair tied back with white paper or ribbon. For dances she may add a sheer outer robe (chihaya) and a floral headdress.

Sources and further reading§

• A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine — John K. Nelson, 1996
• Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan — John K. Nelson, 2000
• The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan — Carmen Blacker, 1975
• Engi-shiki: Procedures of the Engi Era — trans. Felicia G. Bock, 1970
• Shinto and the State, 1868–1988 — Helen Hardacre, 1989
• Shinto: A History — Helen Hardacre, 2017
• Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan — Ian Reader and George J. Tanabe Jr., 1998