What religion is Kannushi?
Shinto priests
Kannushi are Shinto priests who are ministers at a Shinto shrine. They serve the divinities by making offerings and reciting Shinto prayers. They also perform the Shinto purification for people who come to worship and they conduct weddings.
Can shrine maidens be male?
Shrines often hire part-time sales assistants and groundskeepers for the New Year’s season, since most people in Japan visit in the first few days of the new year to wish for good luck and buy good luck charms. It’s not so typical, however, to hire male shrine maidens!
What kind of Hat does a kannushi wear?
A kannushi wearing a garment called kariginu and a hat called ebōshi. A kannushi (神主, “god master”, originally pronounced kamunushi), also called shinshoku (神職, meaning god’s employee), is the person responsible for the maintenance of a Shinto shrine (神社, jinja) as well as for leading worship of a given kami.
What kind of person is a kannushi in Japan?
A kannushi was a man capable of miracles or a holy man who, because of his practice of purificatory rites, was able to work as a medium for a kami. Later the term evolved to being synonymous with shinshoku, that is, a man who works at a shrine and holds religious ceremonies there.
Are there different types of kannushi at the same shrine?
Within the same shrine, such as at Ise Jingū or Ōmiwa Shrine, there can be different types of kannushi at the same time; these may be called, for example, Ō-kannushi (大神主), Sō-kannushi (総神主), or Gon-kannushi (権神主). Kannushi can marry, and their children usually inherit their position.
What did a kannushi do for a kami?
Originally, the kannushi were intermediaries between kami and could transmit their will to common humans. A kannushi was a man capable of miracles or a holy man who, because of his practice of purificatory rites, was able to work as a medium for a kami.