Kamidana

A kamidana is a household Shinto shrine in which a kami can be enshrined and worshiped within a home or shop.  They are placed in a bright, clean and quite place in a home where it would be easy to place offerings and send prayers.  Kamidana can be big and elaborately decorated or they can be simple this depends on the person that buys the kamidana and on the kami that will be enshrined withing it.  Still the structure of the kamidana consist of a small shelf where the offerings are put and a taima that stands on the center of the shrine.  On either side are paper amulets with local kami and ancestral kami place in them.  Some kamidana also have the shimenawa placed upon its entrance.

Usual offerings for a kamidana are water, sake, food, and green twigs that should be placed and changed daily for the blessing of the household.   Kamidana are used by people who move far from their hometowns and wish to continue being protected by their kami.