Family Shinto Altar (Kamidana)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Mar 1859
name: label: Donor Name
content: Emperor Of Japan
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "THIS IS THE FIRST CLASS OF SUCH SHRINES, THE USE DETERMINED BY THE STATUS OF THE FAMILY. EACH FAMILY ADHERING TO THE SHINTO RELIGION HAS ONE OF THESE IN THE HOME, DEDICATED TO KAMI THE SPIRITS OF THE ANCESTORS. AND BEFORE WHICH THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY PERFORMS DEVOTIONS. INSIDE IS THE CARVED WOODEN FIGURE OF EBISU, THE GOD OF SUSTENANCE AND THE FISH MARKET, AND TWO GROTESQUE HEADS OF ANIMALS. BASICALLY IT IS A RECTANGULAR WOODEN BOX WITH INSIDE COMPARTMENTS, AND SOME GRILL WORK ON THE FRONT. ALSO, THIS MOST ELABORATE OF THE SIMPLER ONES HAS A RAILED PORCH IN FRONT AND TABLES ON WHICH THE TRADITIONAL OFFERINGS ARE PUT: FISH, RICE, SALT, AND SAKI. "
label: Notes
content: See Chang-Su Houchins. 1995. Artifacts of Diplomacy: Smithsonian Collections from Commodore Matthew Perry's Japan Expedition (1853-1854). Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Number 37. P 102
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Mar 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 5
place: label: Place
content: Japan, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Japanese
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 199043
label: USNM Number
content: E301-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Altar
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 101.5 cm
label: Width
content: 41.3 cm
label: Height
content: 50.8 cm