This article is about Japanese shrines. For Chinese shrines that use the same character, seeCi shrine.
A smallhokora in Kyoto. Though the hokora are usually categorized as Shintoist, they are often decorated with aswastika which in Japan is a symbol associated with Buddhism. In Kyoto especially, many hokora are actually dedicated toKannon, abodhisattva, rather thanShinto deities.The character 祠
Hokora orhokura (祠 or 神庫) is a miniatureShinto shrine either found on the precincts of a larger shrine and dedicated to folkkami, or on a street side, enshriningkami not under the jurisdiction of any large shrine.[1]Dōsojin, minorkami protecting travelers from evil spirits, can for example be enshrined in ahokora.[1]
The termhokora, believed to have been one of the first Japanese words for Shinto shrine, evolved fromhokura (神庫), literally meaning "kami repository", a fact that seems to indicate that the first shrines were huts built to house someyorishiro.[note 1][2]
^The wordyorishiro (依り代) literally meansapproach substitute.Yorishiro were tools conceived to attract thekami and give them a physical space to occupy, thus making them accessible to human beings.
^abEncyclopedia of Shinto,Hokora. Accessed on December 14, 2009
^Tamura, Yoshiro (2000). "The Birth of the Japanese nation".Japanese Buddhism - A Cultural History (First ed.). Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company. p. 232 pages.ISBN4-333-01684-3.
