The most common
shintai are man-made objects like mirrors, swords, jewels (for example comma-shaped stones called
magatama),
gohei (wands used during religious rites), and sculptures of
kami called , but they can be also natural objects such as rocks (), mountains (), trees (), and
waterfalls (). The most widely known and renowned
shintai is
Mount Fuji. An example of a in a
Japanese new religion is in
Ayabe, Kyoto, which is sacred to the
Oomoto religion. Mount Hongu is located on the grounds of Baishō-en (梅松苑), which was declared by its founders
Nao Deguchi and
Onisaburo Deguchi to be the spiritual center of Japan around the turn of the 20th century. A
yokozuna, a wrestler at the top of
sumo's power pyramid, is a living
shintai. For this reason, his waist is circled by a
shimenawa, a sacred rope which protects sacred objects from evil spirits. A
kannushi, that is, a Shinto priest, can become a living
shintai when a
kami enters his body during religious ceremonies. The founding of a new shrine requires the presence of either a pre-existing, naturally occurring
shintai (for example a rock or waterfall housing a local
kami), or of an artificial one, which must therefore be procured or made to the purpose. An example of the first case are the
Nachi Falls, worshiped at Hiryū Shrine near
Kumano Nachi Taisha and believed to be inhabited by a
kami called Hiryū
Gongen. In the second, the
mitama (spirit) of a
kami is divided in half through a process called
kanjō and one of the halves is then stored in a
yorishiro. This is the process which has led to the creation of networks of shrines housing the same
kami, as for example the
Hachiman shrine,
Inari shrine or
Kumano shrine networks. Because over the years the
shintai is wrapped in more and more layers of precious cloth and stored in more and more boxes without being ever inspected, its exact identity may become forgotten. The first role of a shrine is to house and protect its
shintai and the
kami which inhabits it.), and carried around the streets among the faithful. == Examples ==