Department of Divinities

The Department of Divinities (神祇官, jingi-kan), also known as the Department of Shinto Affairs, Department of Rites, Department of Worship, as well as Council of Divinities, was a Japanese Imperial bureaucracy established in the 8th century, as part of the ritsuryō reforms. It was first established under the Taihō Code which also established the Council of State (太政官, daijō-kan). However, the Jingi-kan and the Daijō-kan made their first appearance in the Asuka Kiyomihara Code.

While the Daijō-kan handled secular administrative affairs of the country, the Jingi-kan oversaw matters related to Shintō, particularly of kami worship. The general functions of the Jingi-kan included overseeing kami-related affairs at court, managing provincial shrines, performing rites for the celestial and terrestrial deities (天神地祇, tenjin chigi), as well as coordinating the provinces' ritual practices with those in the capital based on a code called jingi-ryō (神祇令), which translates to "Code of Celestial and Terrestrial Deities" or "Code of Heavenly and Earthly Gods".

While the department existed for almost a millennium, there are periods of time in Japanese ancient and medieval history where the Jingi-kan was effectively nonexistent such as when the physical establishment of the department was burned down during the Ōnin War (1467-1477). During the Meiji period, the Jingi-kan was briefly reinstated in 1868 and dissolved in 1871, succeeded by the Ministry of Divinities (神祇省, jingi-shō) and the Ministry of Religion (教部省, kyōbushō).