JINJA FUKKYU

'Shrine restoration'. An official term recognised in the prewar Shrine Administration Law, which presupposes an understanding ofjinja gappei. It refers to the process by which the deity of a central, merged shrine was enshrined in one of the shrines which had been merged with it, thus re-establishing the previously abolished shrine. However the officially approved deity so 'restored' was not necessarily the same as the local kami who had originally been 'merged', so from the point of view of local people it was likely that no 'restoration' was taking place. In the unofficial form of 'shrine restoration' (which has been termed by scholars jinja fukushi to differentiate it from the legal term jinja fukkyu) local residents resurrected their local shrine in some unauthorised form after jinja gappei, perhaps by using a building as ayohai-jofor their absent kami. This was a defiant move in pre-war times. Since 1945 the 'recognition' of shrines was no longer a matter for government so restoration of previously-merged shrines could and did take place where local support for such a move existed.