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- Shinto Shrine of the
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
The Shinto shrine situated in the Japanese garden at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria dates from the Meiji era (1868-1912). Before describing the shrine, some background of the period may be useful. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the power of the Shoguns was transferred to the Emperor. The long reign of the Meiji emperor was a period of rejuvenation, and extensive moder�nization. Loyalty to the Emperor and the State was stressed. One of the first acts of 1868 was to make Shinto the dominant faith in Japan. By emphasizing the divine ancestry of the Emperor through State Shinto, the new government hoped to unify the nation and centralize its power. Shinto and Buddhism, which had been intermingling for centuries, were officially separated in an attempt to purify the former and thus reinforce the Emperor�s divine rule. Buddhist images at Shinto shrines were either destroyed or transferred to Buddhist temples, and Buddhist influences, including architectural features, were prohibited. The Meiji government nationalized all shrines and was determined to introduce Shizen or pre-Buddhist Shinto as the state religion. In ordertofurtherthetrend towards centralization and to replace provincial loyalties to a local deity with a spirit of nationalism and oneness with the Emperor, the new government amalgamated many local shrines and placed them under state supervision; priests became government officials. The kami of local shrines were ritually removed to larger provincial shrines and in many cases the empty shrines were burnt or dismantled. At the turn of this century there were nearly two hundred thousand shrines, but by 1920 the policy of one shrine per ad�ministrative village had gradually reduced the number to one hundred and ten thousand.
The Meiji goverment was not always successful at eliminating Buddhist architectural influence on Meiji period Shinto shrines, as evidenced by the Shinto shrine in Victoria. Prior to the partial disassembly and restoration of the shrine in 1983 and its removal to Canada in February 1987, the shrine was located on the estate of the Hayashi family in Hanami, a village subunit of Togo village in Tottori Prefecture. Originally, when the shrine was builtin 1899-1900, it was located in Hanami at a place called Miya No Tani (Valley of the Shrine), but in 1924 it was moved onto the property of the Hayashi family.
The Hayashi family tablet, to summarize, describes how there had been a shrine(shinden) called Omiya Jinja located intheValleyoftheShrineforalong period of time, and it had housed three kami: Okuninushi-No-Mikoto, Shiron- ushi-No-Mikoto and an unidentified kami. The Hayashi family and the most responsible person of the area became concerned about its dilapidated condition, so they consulted with the various people of the village and decided to rebuild it, making it larger and more spectacular. It was completed in the 33rd year of the Meiji period (1900). However, in 1921, the people of Hanami were instructed to move all the local kami to a more centralized shrine called Matsuo Jinja. Because the Hayashi family felt the shrine was too finely and beautifully crafted to allow for its destruction, they requested that it be moved to their
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