in Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

 terminology are sacred

Sacred

Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...

 spaces or altar

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

s used to worship

Worship

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...

. In their simplest form, they are square areas with green bamboo or sakaki

Sakaki

Sakaki is a flowering evergreen tree native to warm areas of Japan, Korea and mainland China. It can reach a height of 10 m. The leaves are 6–10 cm long, smooth, oval, leathery, shiny and dark green above, yellowish-green below, with deep furrows for the leaf stem. The bark is dark reddish...

at the corners. These in turn support sacred ropes (shimenawa

Shimenawa

Shimenawa are lengths of braided rice straw rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. They can vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with shide...

) decorated with streamers called shide

Shide

Shide may refer to:* Shide , a Chinese Buddhist monk and poet* Shide meaning the ziz-zag shaped paper streamer associated with Shintoism* Shide, Isle of Wight, settlement on the Isle of Wight, England* Dalian Shide F.C., Chinese football club...

. A branch of sakaki or some other evergreen at the center acts as a yorishiro

Yorishiro

A in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called kami, thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. Yorishiro are used during ceremonies to call the kami for worship. The word itself literally means approach substitute. Once a yorishiro...

, a physical representation of the presence of the kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

, a being which is in itself incorporeal.

During the Aoi Festival in Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 the himorogi is a square space surrounded by green branches with an evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

 tree at the center as a yorishiro. A more elaborate himorogi can also be made with a straw mat on the ground with on it a ceremonial 8-legged stand called an decorated with shimenawa and sacred emblems.

The etymology of the word is unclear, but it appears already in the Nihon Shoki

Nihon Shoki

The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...

and in the Man'yōshū. The term "himorogi" refers equally to the focal point "tree" and to the sacred space, both of which are deemed to be purified or "unpolluted".

Himorogi in Japan are most commonly seen at construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 sites, where after use they stand for a while before actual work begins. They are built for a Shinto priest

Kannushi

A , also called , is the person responsible for the maintenance of a Shinto shrine as well as for leading worship of a given kami. The characters for kannushi are sometimes also read jinshu with the same meaning....

, who comes to bless

Bless

Bless may refer to:* Blessing, a religious pronouncement* Bless , hip-hop artist from Montreal* "Bless" , a 2010 single by L'Arc-en-Ciel* Bless, another name for the Swedish group Bubbles* Bless , an album by Bubbles...

 the site during a ground-breaking ceremony called

See also

• The Glossary of Shinto
  Glossary of Shinto
  This is the glossary of Shinto, including major terms the casual reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galleries...
  
  for an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Shinto, Shinto art, and Shinto shrine architecture.