神人 (jinin, jinnin, kaminchu, shinjin) (神人)
神人 means:
(Jinin, jinnin) Low-ranking Shinto priests and yoriudo serving the shrine to perform chores and duties. A detailed description is provided on this page.
(Kaminchu) Shinto priests of indigenous faiths in Ryukyu/Okinawa. A detailed description is provided on this page.
(Shinjin) A term used in Shinto referring to 'god and humans.'
Used as 'shinjin goitsu' (unity of man and god).
Low-ranking Shinto priests and yoriudo
"Jinin" and "jinnin" are low-ranking Shinto priests and yoriudo who served families of Shinto priests who serve a shrine on the basis of hereditary in order to assist in shinji (Shinto rituals), clerical work at the shrine, and carry out chores in shrines during ancient and medieval times.
There are honsha jinin, who are under the direct control of shrines, and sanzai jinin, who live on the land of shrines in the provinces.
Jinin were armed guards at the front of shrines and at religious services, and thus, from the times of insei from the Heian period to the Muromachi period, records show that along with priest warriors, they frequently committed violence and organized petitions. Not only armed groups, but also performers, craftsmen, and merchants joined jinin, and over time, many commerce, industry, and entertainment guilds were organized by jinin.
Horikawa jinin who belonged to Gion-sha Shrine (currently Yasaka-jinja Shrine) who gathered in Gojo Horikawa, operated a lumber business in medieval times, transporting lumber from the mountains in Tanba Province down the Kizu-gawa River in the form of rafts, to be stored in Gojo Horikawa. At the Gion-sha Shrine, lower ranking jinin called 'inu jinin' served to clean the shrine, provided security at Yama-hoko junko (float procession), and had the privilege to participate in cleaning and attending funerals across Kyoto.
Backed by the power of Enryaku-ji Temple, hiyoshi jinin at the Hiyoshi-taisha Shrine transported annual rice taxes, provided loans to court nobles and provincial governors, and grew to become the main high-rate lender in Kyoto.
Iwashimizu jinin at the Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine held monopoly rights at the fish market in Yodo and also transportation rights over land and water, while oyamazaki jinin at the subordinate Rikyu Hachiman-gu Shrine, held exclusive purchasing rights for egoma (a type of perilla).
Shinto priests in Ryukyu and Okinawa
"Kaminchu" is the common name for Shinto priests in Ryukyu/Okinawa.
In the narrow sense, it refers to noro (hereditary female Shinto priest performing shinji in villages in Okinawa), but in the broad sense, it means a person serving god, which includes assistant Shinto priests of noro, colonial priests such as negami and nenin, and folk shamans such as yuta.
On Kudaka-jima Island, which has been a sacred place since the Ryukyu Kingdom, and where ancient faiths still remain today, a conventional phrase, 'Men are uminchu, women are kaminchu' continues to be used, passing along a societal tradition where men were laborers and women served as Shinto priests.