Oftentimes when planning or while on a Kyoto trip, the question comes up. What is the difference between a shrine and a temple?
Shrines are associated with shinto and temples are associated with Buddhism. Shrines in Japanese are called “jinja.” Examples of this are Inari-jinja, Kitano-jinja, Yasaka-jinja, Goo-jinja, and Kenkun-jinja. Temples in Japanese are called “ji.” Examples are Toji, Daitoku-ji, Nanzen-ji, and Tōfuku-ji.
Shinto, “the way of the gods,” is the native Japanese beliefs based on animism and nature worship mixed with legends and folk tradition. Shinto is tied to agricultural themes – fertility, disasters, harvests, rain, floods, insects, disease, feast and famine. Shinto was not written, nor did it have elaborate rituals and ceremony. Shinto had no founder, scriptures, moral code, or even a name. The core concept is that the deities, kami, preside over all things in nature, living, dead, or inanimate.
The most recognizable part of a shrine is a Torii, a vermillion colored entranceway. Also at shrines one often finds Shimenawa, which are—rope of twisted rice straw—hung over entrances to separate sacred and secular places. It is also set above doors of houses to ward off evil and sickness.
Buddhism was originally brought from India to China, then brought and spread throughout Japan during the Heian era, whereas Shintoism originated in ancient Japan. Buddhist monks live and train at a temple. There are statues of various Buddha in many different categories such as Dainichinyorai, Yakushinyorai, Shokanzeonbosatsu, and many others depending on the sect of a given temple. Buddhism believes that a spirit of Buddha exists inside a statue.
There often appears shinto themes on temple grounds (synchronism). There was a Japanese Buddhist theory that Shinto kami (gods) were manifestations of Buddhist gods, with Buddhism being the more important of the two.
During New Years and certain other holidays, Japanese will visit shrines and temples. Traditional Japanese weddings are held at shrines and funerals at temples.