Kannabi

In Shinto, there is a concept known as Kannabi (神奈備), also referred to as kaminabi or kamunabi, which denotes a region that houses a kami or is itself a shintai (a repository in which a kami resides). These regions are typically forests or mountains, and examples include Mount Miwa and Nachi Falls.

Mount Miwa a famous Kannabi for Omiwa Shrine.

Overview

Kannabi can have sacred trees called shinboku or rocks called Iwakura. Kannabi may also have shimenawa, torii gates, and sandō which show the way to them.

Shrines that worship kannabi do not always have a honden or haiden like other shrines. Instead, they enshrine the natural kannabi as deities. One example is Ōmiwa Shrine. Kanasana Jinja is another shrine where the mountain itself is the shintai.

Related pages

• Age of the Gods
• Ko-Shintō
• Himorogi・Iwakura
• Shintai・Yorishiro
• Shinboku
• Sacred mountains・Mountain worship
• Kannagi
• Chinju no Mori