Kamidana & Butsudan (home altars)

Kamidana literally means "god shelf." It is a small wooden shrine on a shelf above head height, in a clean, bright part of the home. Inside are ofuda (御札), paper charms from a shrine that hold the presence of the kami. Often one comes from Ise, the holiest shrine in Shinto, and one from the local shrine. Every day, or on set days, the family places small offerings in front of it: rice, water and salt, and sometimes sake. Then they greet the gods with a bow and a clap, just as they would at a shrine. The kamidana brings a shrine visit home. It keeps the household under the gods' protection, and it gives the family a place for daily thanks.

The butsudan feels very different. It is a cabinet, often of dark lacquered wood, with a Buddhist image inside. Most importantly, it holds memorial tablets (ihai) with the names of family members who have died. Here the family cares for its ancestors (先祖, senzo). They offer incense, food and flowers, tell the dead the family news and pray for them. They do this most of all at Obon, the summer festival of the dead, and on the anniversaries of deaths. A house with both a kamidana and a butsudan sums up how religion works in everyday Japan. People turn to Shinto for life, growth and blessings, and to Buddhism for death, memory and the ancestors.