Bureau of Shrines
Japanese government agency
The Bureau of Shrines (神社局, Jinjakyoku) was an internal department of the Home Ministry that existed until 1940. It was in charge of administrative matters related to shrines, shinkan, and kannushi.
It was split off from the Bureau of Shrines and Temples in 1900 with other religions and Sect Shinto being covered under the Bureau of Religions.
On April 26, 1900, under the basic policy of the Meiji Restoration government that "shrines are the state's religious ceremonies," the Home Ministry's Bureau of Shrines and Temples was abolished and reorganized into the Bureau of Shrines, which oversaw State Shinto, and the Bureau of Religions, which oversaw other religions including Buddhism, and Sect Shinto. In short, the Home Ministry's official regulations were revised, seven bureaus were established within it, the Bureau of Shrines was added before the regional bureaus, and the Bureau of Shrines and Temples was renamed the Bureau of Religion. The Bureau of Shrines was criticized by the Shin Buddhism sect, despite it not being a very large organization.
It was staffed by one director, one secretary, one archivist, two engineers, one clerk, two assistant archivists, and others.
It was abolished on November 9, 1940 with the establishment of the Institute of Divinities.
Bibliography
秦郁彦編『日本官僚制総合事典：1868 - 2000』東京大学出版会、2001年。
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bureau of Shrines” is japanese government agency. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bureau, Shrines and Japanese, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “japanese government agency” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11590701. VIAF identifies the subject as 252923877. The Library of Congress control number is n82044686. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 1900, 1868 and 2000.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Bureau of Shrines”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Bureau of Shrines primary sources, Bureau of Shrines archive and Bureau research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bureau of Shrines”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Bureau of Shrines” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.