| relig. |
The kami of an uji, "clan", 'community'. In practice more or less interchangeable with ubusuna, the kami of one's birthplace, though ujigami carries mainly the sense of ancestor or "parent" kami. The ujigami is the protective or tutelary deity of a defined group of people. This may mean a clan, lineage or most commonly now the village or local community, though especially in modern urban Japan with constant rebuilding and a relatively mobile population the local community around a shrine may not be coterminous with the ujiko (see Sukei-kai). The majority of Shinto matsuri are those performed at an ordinary local shrine for the ujigami by its ujiko (or ubuko) 'children of the uji', the people who carry an obligation to support and maintain the shrine and take part in its activities. Numerous small shrines simply enshrine the ujigami or ubusuna of the place, with no further name. Famous shrines also attract as their ujiko pilgrims from a wide area, often through branch shrines (bunsha). The Ise shrine claims (though no longer officially) the whole nation as its ujiko through its identification with the Imperial line. See also Uji-no-kami, Ketsuen-shin A Popular Dictionary of Shinto (Brian Bocking) |
