Encyclopedia of Shinto

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カテゴリー1： 4. Jinja (Shrines)
カテゴリー2： Shrine Architecture
Title
Honden
Text
Also called seiden. The "sanctuary," or central structure of a shrine that houses the seat (shinza) of the deity worshipped there (saijin). The honden is considered the most sacred space within the shrine, and its sacred doors (mitobira) are normally kept closed and locked. The opening and closing of the doors represents in itself an important part of the shrine's ritual. Honden are built in numerous different architectural styles, and can be divided broadly into two categories based on their relationship to other buildings: those which are physically linked to the hall of worship (haiden) or hall of offerings (heiden), and those which stand independently. The interior of the honden is composed of an "inner sanctuary" (naijin) that represents the actual "kami seat" (shinza), and an "outer sanctuary" (gejin) or "nave." At most shrines, the honden is considered the locus of the kami and the center of worship, but certain shrines do not possess honden since they have sacred mountains (shintaizan) or other sacred areas or sacred trees (himorogi) that are directly worshipped instead.
— Mori Mizue

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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