A Quantitative Assessment of Marine Spiritual Benefits Related to a Shinto Shrine

Abstract

ABSTRACT : A method for the quantitative assessment of marine spiritual benefits was developed by treating marine power providing spiritual benefits as Shinto deities. Using this method the amount of modern marine spiritual benefits was compared between the Osaka Bay basin and the Tokyo Bay basin. Marine-associated Shinto shrines were selected using three indicators (holding or not holding Shinto rituals and festivals in relation to sea, the kind of Shinto deities, and the shortest distance between a main shrine and a marine shoreline). The quantity of marine spiritual benefits acquired by visitors to a Shinto shrine was determined by calculating the product of the degrees of proximity between sea and a Shinto shrine, and the number of people visiting a Shinto shrine during the first three days of the New Year (which would indicate an abundance of Shinto shrine users). As a result of analyzing Shinto shrines using this method, the quantity of marine spiritual benefits acquired in a marine-associated Shinto shrine was found to be higher in the Osaka bay basin. The total quantity of marine spiritual benefits per basin is considered to vary with 1) the presence of an influential Shinto shrine and its contributions to a place that many people have connected to sea for many centuries and 2) the conditions of sea and surrounding environments.