And the essentialists have yet another run at the shi-yaku-jin no hokora...

This time they question my right to use the term kannushi. And in a very narrow sense where they conflate kannushi with shinshoku or shintô priest, they may be right. Although, I've never claimed to be shinshoku.

However, kannushi also has an older meaning of one who maintains a shrine; which I do. As a side attack they also discounted my practices and mythology. Which is rather odd when you consider that 95% of my practices are the same as those engaged in by shintô practitioners in Japan and six of hokora's seven kami are also enshrined in various Japanese shrines.

On the other hand perhaps not so odd when considering the all or nothing viewpoint of essentialists — I am reminded of T.H. White's "Everything which is not forbidden is compulsory."

Anyway, their main argument runs: only people who have gone through the certification process of the jinja honchô have a legitimate right to call themselves kannushi — by which they really mean shinshoku — and I have not gone through it. Yep... I haven't.

There are a number of problems with this argument. Not the least of which is that the hokora is not a member of the jinja honchô and so like a number of shrines in Japan is not subject to their rules — fushimi inari taisha and oomiwa jinja are notably independent of jinja honcho as are some fifteen smaller shrine networks.

As far as issue of legitimacy goes, what the jinja honchô issues is a certificate of proficiency, not a license to practice. The difference being that a certification means that someone passed a test for the way "jinja honchô think things should be done". It's a lot like getting an ISO 9000 — it means your processes are all "properly documented"; it doesn't say anything about how good those processes are or aren't.

On the other hand a license to practice is issued by a government body, who supervises the license holders; and can revoke the license for violating the terms of the license and forbid the holder from practicing. Both Japan and the United States have separation of church and state written into their constitutions. That basically means that religions can't issue licenses only certificates, and the state can't certify or license religions. So while kannushi can be a certified professional title it's not a licensed professional title.

I don't know what the law is in Japan, but in the United States the term kannushi pretty much falls in the public domain, both from general usage and the failure of anyone to defend their exclusive use of it. What this means is that realistically no one group "owns" it; anyone can use it and as long as they conform to one of its meanings (one who maintains a shrine in our case) they are using it correctly.

Furthermore in Japan with over 80,000 shrines, the larger of which require multiple priests, and with only 20,000 certified shinshoku, many shrines by necessity are maintained physically and ritually by lay people.

In shintô anyone can create and maintain a shrine; it doesn't have to be a shinshoku. It could be a community, a family/clan, a company, an association, or an individual. It has been pointed out that many shrines were originally created by individual families/clans and that for many centuries the head of family/clan or one of their immediate family members acted as a priest for these.

I am both the younger surviving brother of the head of my extended family and the head of a branch family; either of which qualifies me to lead shintô rituals at the family hokora.

So can I "legitimately" call myself kannushi? I think so.