ALL JAPAN TOURS| LEARNING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHRINES AND TEMPLES
When visiting Japan, you may notice that there are shrines and temples to visit. If you don’t know the difference, its okay, we’ll break it down in this Japan guide for you. Japan’s two dominant religions are Shintoism and Buddhism. A shrine is for Shintoism while a temple is for Buddhism. A distinct feature of a shrine is a torii gate at the entrance pictured below. You’d only see these at a Shrine and never at a temple.
At a shrine and temple there is usually a basin of water where you can cleanse yourself. To cleanse yourself, grab the water scooper and scoop water. Wash your left hand. Then you wash your right hand. After washing both hands, you must rinse your mouth. Put a little bit of water in your left hand and wash your mouth. If you do not feel comfortable putting public water in your mouth, just bring the water near your mouth. Then with one more scoop of water, tilt the scooper backwards and rinse the scooper for the next person. Now you are ready to pray!
At a temple there is no particular way to do so, but there is at shrines. First, throw in some money into the container sitting in front of the shrine. Then, shake the bell (If there is one) to greet the deity. Bow twice, clap twice, pray then bow once more to finish praying. Its quite simple once you have it down!
These are just basic etiquette’s and differences to know for anyone visiting Shrines and Temples. So next time you want to visit one, try identifying if its a shrine or temple!
Tokyo Guide: A Torii gate for a shrine
Tokyo Guide: Learning to pray at a shrine