Yorishiro
A  in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called , thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies.  are used during ceremonies to call the  for worship. The word itself literally means "approach substitute". Once a  actually houses a , it is called a . Ropes called  decorated with paper streamers called  often surround  to make their sacredness manifest. Persons can play the same role as a , and in that case are called  or .

History 
 and their history are intimately connected with the birth of Shinto shrines. Early Japanese culture did not have the notion of anthropomorphic deities, and felt the presence of spirits in nature and its phenomena. Mountains, forests, rain, wind, lightning and sometimes animals were thought to be charged with spiritual power, and the material manifestations of this power were worshiped as , entities closer in essence to the Polynesian mana. Village councils sought the advice of  and developed the , tools that attracted  acting like a lightning rod.  were conceived to attract the  and then give them a physical space to occupy to make them accessible to human beings for ceremonies, which is still their purpose today. Village council sessions were held in a quiet spot in the mountains or in a forest near a great tree, rock or other natural object that served as a . These sacred places and their  gradually evolved into the shrines of today.

The first buildings at shrines were likely just huts built to house some . A trace of this origin can be found in the term , literally meaning "deity storehouse", which evolved into  (also written with the characters ), one of the earliest words for a shrine. Most of the sacred objects found today in shrines (trees, mirrors, swords, ) were originally , and only later became  themselves by association.

Common  

The most common  are swords, mirrors, ritual staffs decorated with paper streamers called , comma-shaped beads called , large rocks ( or , and sacred trees.  are often considered to dwell in unusually-shaped rocks or trees, or in caves and earth mounds.  can also be persons, in which case they are called .

Trees 

Because of the emphasis on nature in Shinto,  are often natural objects like trees. Significantly, in ancient Japanese texts the words  and  were sometimes read as  ("sacred place"), but also sometimes read as  ("grove" or "forest"), reflecting the fact that the earliest shrines were simply sacred groves or forests where  were present. (Part of the reading disparity may have been due to the confusion between similar characters  and .) Many shrines still have on their grounds one of the original great , a great tree surrounded by a sacred rope called . Now such trees have become divine by association, and no longer simply represent a .

Shinto altars, called  – typically just square areas demarcated with  (Cleyera japonica) at the corners supporting sacred border ropes () – feature a branch of  erected at the center as a .

Iwakura rocks are also common. An  is simply a rock formation where a  is invited to descend, and is therefore holy ground. With time, through a process of association, the  itself can come to be considered divine. Archeological research in Japan confirms these sects to be ancient. In shrines, even today stones considered to be related to the shrine's  are used to make food offerings to the .

Similarly an  is a stone altar or mound erected as a  to call a  for worship. The concepts of  and  are so close that some suggest the two words are in fact synonymous.

In homes 

 are most numerous in people's homes. During the New Year's holidays, people decorate their entrances with , which are the  of the new year's . , plaques of wood or pieces of paper (similar to an ) representing the , are hung above the door. There are  who dwell in the toilet () and in the well (). The  lives in the oven, and its function is to protect the house from fires. Other common  are the small altar called  and the , which is an altar for the dead. ( were originally meant just for Buddhist worship, but now often contain also spirit tablets called , which are  used to recall the spirits of one's dead ancestors). In shops one often sees clay cats with a raised paw called , or rake-like bamboo objects called  supposed to attract good business.

See also
Anito
Balete tree
Glossary of Shinto

Notes

References 

  
 
 
 

Shinto religious objects